Resilience and sustainability in tourism-forestry systems through risk management framework: review and concept

Objective: This study aims to explore and enhance the tourism-forestry risk management in research and industry practice. By integrating the concept of resilience and sustainability into risk management practices, this research addresses the multifaceted challenges faced by the forest-tourism field and promotes its long-term viability. Methods: The study comprised of three stages. Firstly, it employs the scoping review technique in the Scopus database system to seek for research gaps related to the objective of the study. Secondly, the study continues with conceptual analysis from Malaysian context particularly on the industrial avenue to assess the current state of risk management practices. Final stage is to propose a tourism-forestry risk management framework for the tourism industry in Malaysia. This study evaluates the effectiveness of existing risk management strategies and identifies gaps and opportunities for improvement by analysing publicly available data from researchers, various stakeholders such as government agencies, industry professionals, and local communities. Results: The findings contribute to the development of Risk Management Tourism-Forestry Framework (RTFF) for enhancing resilience and sustainability in tourism-forestry systems not limited to Malaysia but also for other nations. Moreover, the research outcomes provide valuable insights for the researchers on the knowledge gaps that should be filled. Furthermore, this study provides great lessons learned for all countries with similar socio-economic and environmental contexts towards the application of a risk management framework in their region. Finally, the proposed SDG-oriented risk management framework of RTFF offers a holistic and integrated approach, taking into account social, economic, and environmental dimensions, and provides a roadmap for fostering resilience and sustainability in the face of evolving challenges. Conclusion: This study aims to improve the literature reviews on resilience and sustainability in tourism-forestry that are related to risk management issues. The manuscript addresses the multifaceted challenges faced by the tourism-forestry field and promotes its long-term viability by incorporating the concept of sustainable development goals into risk management practises. Elements of tourism-forestry in the state of the art in the literature as well as in practice not to mention the development of the framework, in which no other study has adopted the same methodology, thus proving the novelty of the study

Waste management and business sustainability performance: moderating role of organisation age

The chemical manufacturing sector in Malaysia is among the industries that actively pursue sustainable practices. Waste management aids personnel in upholding the principles of sustainability within a company, while simultaneously fulfilling industrial requirements. This study investigates the impact of waste management practises on business sustainability performance, with organisation age serving as a moderating factor. In the country of Malaysia, a total of 366 chemical manufacturing enterprises were identified for the purpose of this study. The researchers employed a stratified random sampling technique to choose a representative sample from this population. A Partial Least Squares (PLS) analysis was conducted on a sample of 130 questionnaires that were completed. The data indicate that there is no relationship between the age of an organisation and there is an improvement of business sustainability through waste management. In order to ensure sustainability, chemical manufacturers must incorporate effective waste management practices. Incorporation into organisational strategies is crucial. This study was anticipated to provide assistance to chemical manufacturers in selecting environmentally conscious practices that align with their business sustainability performance objectives

Strengthening the university-maritime industry collaborations (UMICS): technology issues

In management practise and research, the university-maritime industry collaborations (UMICs) have grown in significance. This trend is reinforced by the necessity for innovation in the current industry environment and the desire of policymakers to commercialise knowledge from academia. Much less is known about these collaborations, although significant research efforts have been made to identify the success factors for these collaborations. Therefore, the aim of this study is to identify and explore the key factors that strengthen UMICs and propose a framework to enhance collaboration, so that a research agenda for the future will be developed based on an assessment of the existing literature. This study adopted a method of systematic literature review using published and unpublished theoretical literature to conduct analysis using five research databases in order to propose a framework aimed at identifying the key factors to strengthen UMICs. The findings of this study concluded that effective communication, trust, and adequate fund resources are essential for UMICs to succeed. Open communication channels, mutual trust, and shared vision can help build strong partnerships, while adequate funding can support research and development of new technologies, practices, and solutions. Based on previous research, none of them treated combined fund resources, effective communication, and trust as an independent variables towards UMICs relationship specifically. Hence, this study fills the gap by proposing a framework to test the relationship between fund resources, effective communication, and trust towards UMICs. Thus, the proposed framework can be used as a benchmark to strengthen UMICs in the future. This study also will encourage the managers in the maritime industry to drive innovation, establish strategic collaborations, actively involve stakeholders, and foster innovation and economic growth in the maritime industry to strengthen UMICs. The existing limited body of knowledge and literature will also benefit from this study

Issues of human resource in Malaysian palm oil industry

The sustainability of industries is a crucial goal for many sectors in Malaysia, including the palm oil industry. Numerous industries, particularly the palm oil industry, aim to achieve sustainable businesses through efficient and effective human resource management practices. However, it can be observed that there are several issues of human resource that have acted as barriers to achieving sustainability in this industry. Among the primary issues are hazardous work conditions, labor shortages, migrant workers, low wages, human rights concerns, inadequate training and agricultural skills, and the exploitation of child labor. Discussions about these issues are essential to provide current insights to the public and all parties involved directly or indirectly in the industry. Therefore, appropriate measures should be taken by all stakeholders with a sense of responsibility to address these concerns. It is hoped that by addressing these issues, the Malaysian palm oil industry can move closer to achieving industrial sustainability, especially in the realm of social sustainability, and indirectly contribute to the nation's economy

Pharmacological Evaluation of the Long-Term Effects of Xanomeline on the M1 Muscarinic Acetylcholine Receptor

Xanomeline is a unique agonist of muscarinic receptors that possesses functional selectivity at the M1 and M4 receptor subtypes. It also exhibits wash-resistant binding to and activation of the receptor. In the present work we investigated the consequences of this type of binding of xanomeline on the binding characteristics and function of the M1 muscarinic receptor. Pretreatment of CHO cells that stably express the M1 receptor for 1 hr with increasing concentrations of xanomeline followed by washing and waiting for an additional 23 hr in control culture media transformed xanomeline-induced inhibition of [3H]NMS binding from monophasic to biphasic. The high-affinity xanomeline binding site exhibited three orders of magnitude higher affinity than in the case of xanomeline added directly to the binding assay medium containing control cells. These effects were associated with a marked decrease in maximal radioligand binding and attenuation of agonist-induced increase in PI hydrolysis and were qualitatively similar to those caused by continuous incubation of cells with xanomeline for 24 hr. Attenuation of agonist-induced PI hydrolysis by persistently-bound xanomeline developed with a time course that parallels the return of receptor activation by prebound xanomeline towards basal levels. Additional data indicated that blockade of the receptor orthosteric site or the use of a non-functional receptor mutant reversed the long-term effects of xanomeline, but not its persistent binding at an allosteric site. Furthermore, the long-term effects of xanomeline on the receptor are mainly due to receptor down-regulation rather than internalization

Breakfast Staple Types Affect Brain Gray Matter Volume and Cognitive Function in Healthy Children

Childhood diet is important for brain development. Furthermore, the quality of breakfast is thought to affect the cognitive functioning of well-nourished children. To analyze the relationship among breakfast staple type, gray matter volume, and intelligence quotient (IQ) in 290 healthy children, we used magnetic resonance images and applied voxel-based morphometry. We divided subjects into rice, bread, and both groups according to their breakfast staple. We showed that the rice group had a significantly larger gray matter ratio (gray matter volume percentage divided by intracranial volume) and significantly larger regional gray matter volumes of several regions, including the left superior temporal gyrus. The bread group had significantly larger regional gray and white matter volumes of several regions, including the right frontoparietal region. The perceptual organization index (POI; IQ subcomponent) of the rice group was significantly higher than that of the bread group. All analyses were adjusted for age, gender, intracranial volume, socioeconomic status, average weekly frequency of having breakfast, and number of side dishes eaten for breakfast. Although several factors may have affected the results, one possible mechanism underlying the difference between the bread and the rice groups may be the difference in the glycemic index (GI) of these two substances; foods with a low GI are associated with less blood-glucose fluctuation than are those with a high GI. Our study suggests that breakfast staple type affects brain gray and white matter volumes and cognitive function in healthy children; therefore, a diet of optimal nutrition is important for brain maturation during childhood and adolescence

RET Mutational Spectrum in Hirschsprung Disease: Evaluation of 601 Chinese Patients

Rare (RVs) and common variants of the RET gene contribute to Hirschsprung disease (HSCR; congenital aganglionosis). While RET common variants are strongly associated with the commonest manifestation of the disease (males; short-segment aganglionosis; sporadic), rare coding sequence (CDS) variants are more frequently found in the lesser common and more severe forms of the disease (females; long/total colonic aganglionosis; familial)

Genistein Improves Neuropathology and Corrects Behaviour in a Mouse Model of Neurodegenerative Metabolic Disease

BACKGROUND: Neurodegenerative metabolic disorders such as mucopolysaccharidosis IIIB (MPSIIIB or Sanfilippo disease) accumulate undegraded substrates in the brain and are often unresponsive to enzyme replacement treatments due to the impermeability of the blood brain barrier to enzyme. MPSIIIB is characterised by behavioural difficulties, cognitive and later motor decline, with death in the second decade of life. Most of these neurodegenerative lysosomal storage diseases lack effective treatments. We recently described significant reductions of accumulated heparan sulphate substrate in liver of a mouse model of MPSIIIB using the tyrosine kinase inhibitor genistein. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We report here that high doses of genistein aglycone, given continuously over a 9 month period to MPSIIIB mice, significantly reduce lysosomal storage, heparan sulphate substrate and neuroinflammation in the cerebral cortex and hippocampus, resulting in correction of the behavioural defects observed. Improvements in synaptic vesicle protein expression and secondary storage in the cerebral cortex were also observed. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Genistein may prove useful as a substrate reduction agent to delay clinical onset of MPSIIIB and, due to its multimodal action, may provide a treatment adjunct for several other neurodegenerative metabolic diseases

Modelling Blood Flow and Metabolism in the Preclinical Neonatal Brain during and Following Hypoxic-Ischaemia

Hypoxia-ischaemia (HI) is a major cause of neonatal brain injury, often leading to long-term damage or death. In order to improve understanding and test new treatments, piglets are used as preclinical models for human neonates. We have extended an earlier computational model of piglet cerebral physiology for application to multimodal experimental data recorded during episodes of induced HI. The data include monitoring with near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) and magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), and the model simulates the circulatory and metabolic processes that give rise to the measured signals. Model extensions include simulation of the carotid arterial occlusion used to induce HI, inclusion of cytoplasmic pH, and loss of metabolic function due to cell death. Model behaviour is compared to data from two piglets, one of which recovered following HI while the other did not. Behaviourally-important model parameters are identified via sensitivity analysis, and these are optimised to simulate the experimental data. For the non-recovering piglet, we investigate several state changes that might explain why some MRS and NIRS signals do not return to their baseline values following the HI insult. We discover that the model can explain this failure better when we include, among other factors such as mitochondrial uncoupling and poor cerebral blood flow restoration, the death of around 40% of the brain tissue. Copyright