Genetic Diversity Analysis of Ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe.) Genotypes Using RAPD Markers

Ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe.) is an important spice crop in Bangladesh as well as in all over the world for its economical and medicinal values. A measure of the existing genetic diversity is essential for planning a meaningful breeding strategy. Moreover, assessment and characterization of genetic diversity of the available germplasm is important to know the source of gene for particular trait of interest. The present investigation was undertaken to assess the genetic diversity among eight ginger genotypes using RAPD markers. A total of 16 distinct DNA fragments ranging from 100–1000 bp were amplified by using three selected primers of which 10 (62.50%) were polymorphic. BARI ada-1 was more homogenous than others and Syedpuri was found less homogenous showing the low intra-variety similarity value (75.56). the genotype ‘Syedpuri’ was found as more diversified from the viewpoint of lowest intra-variety similarity index value, highest gene diversity, proportion of polymorphic loci and highest level of genetic variation. The cluster analysis indicated that the eight genotypes were grouped into two major clusters. ‘Indian’ alone formed the first major cluster while the second major cluster had seven genotypes and was divided into two minor clusters. China and Sherpuri genotype pair were very close to each other with the lowest genetic distance (0.03). On the other hand, Indian and Syedpuri pair was more distant to each other with the highest genetic distance (0.55). RAPD analysis revealed a considerable level of polymorphism among the studied genotypes. The genetic variation thus detected has significance for ginger improvement programs

A System Dynamics Approach for Hospital Waste Management in a City in a Developing Country: The Case of Nablus, Palestine

Hospitals and health centers provide a variety of healthcare services and normally generate hazardous waste as well as general waste. General waste has a similar nature to that of municipal solid waste and therefore could be disposed of in municipal landfills. However, hazardous waste poses risks to public health, unless it is properly managed. The hospital waste management system encompasses many factors, i.e., number of beds, number of employees, level of service, population, birth rate, fertility rate, and not in my back yard (NIMBY) syndrome. Therefore, this management system requires a comprehensive analysis to determine the role of each factor and its influence on the whole system. In this research, a hospital waste management simulation model is presented based on the system dynamics technique to determine the interaction among these factors in the system using a software package, ithink. This model is used to estimate waste segregation as this is important in the hospital waste management system to minimize risk to public health. Real data has been obtained from a case study of the city of Nablus, Palestine to validate the model. The model exhibits wastes generated from three types of hospitals (private, charitable, and government) by considering the number of both inpatients and outpatients depending on the population of the city under study. The model also offers the facility to compare the total waste generated among these different types of hospitals and anticipate and predict the future generated waste both infectious and non-infectious and the treatment cost incurred

Body appreciation around the world: Measurement invariance of the Body Appreciation Scale-2 (BAS-2) across 65 nations, 40 languages, gender identities, and age

The Body Appreciation Scale-2 (BAS-2) is a widely used measure of a core facet of the positive body image construct. However, extant research concerning measurement invariance of the BAS-2 across a large number of nations remains limited. Here, we utilised the Body Image in Nature (BINS) dataset - with data collected between 2020 and 2022 - to assess measurement invariance of the BAS-2 across 65 nations, 40 languages, gender identities, and age groups. Multi-group confirmatory factor analysis indicated that full scalar invariance was upheld across all nations, languages, gender identities, and age groups, suggesting that the unidimensional BAS-2 model has widespread applicability. There were large differences across nations and languages in latent body appreciation, while differences across gender identities and age groups were negligible-to-small. Additionally, greater body appreciation was significantly associated with higher life satisfaction, being single (versus being married or in a committed relationship), and greater rurality (versus urbanicity). Across a subset of nations where nation-level data were available, greater body appreciation was also significantly associated with greater cultural distance from the United States and greater relative income inequality. These findings suggest that the BAS-2 likely captures a near-universal conceptualisation of the body appreciation construct, which should facilitate further cross-cultural research

Environmental audits and process flow mapping to assess management of solid waste and wastewater from a healthcare facility: an Italian case study

In Europe, there are an increasing number of policy and legislative drivers for a more sustainable approach to the management of natural resources as well as for the mitigation of environmental health risks. However, despite significant progress in recent years, there is still some way to go to achieve circularity of process, as well as risk mitigation within organisations. Using a case study of the Gardone Val Trompia hospital in northern Italy, this manuscript offers a novel holistic examination of strategies to enhance resource efficiency and environmental health within a key sector, i.e. the healthcare sector. Through the use of environmental audits and process flow mapping, trends in waste and wastewater arisings and the associated financial and environmental costs and risks were identified. Recommendations for developing more resource efficient approaches as well as mitigating the environmental and public health risks are suggested. These include strategies for improved resource efficiency (including reduction in the hazardous waste) and reduced environmental impacts during the containment, transport and treatment of the waste