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    Institutional limits of sustainability in tourism governance: changing governance rationalities in protected area tourism in Finland
    (Taylor and Francis Group, 2025-10-02) Lundén A; Saarinen J; Hall CM
    This study examines the co-evolution of tourism and the administration of Finnish protected areas (PAs), specifically focusing on how administrative legitimacy-seeking influences sustainable tourism governance. Drawing on concepts from new institutional theory, namely isomorphism (organizational convergence), legitimacy-seeking (the pursuit of societal approval), and decoupling (the separation of formal structures from practices), we analyse key policy documents and annual reports from Finnish Parks and Wildlife from 2005 to 2018. The findings of our study reveal a dual shift in PA governance: ‘platformisation,’ where PAs are transformed into state-orchestrated platforms that facilitate the creation of value and legitimacy through the growth of tourism, and ‘corporatization,’ where private sector governance logics are adopted within public administration. These shifts redefine the state's role in commercializing nature, emphasizing economic outputs and regional development mediated by tourism. We observe a decoupling of organizational practices between broader environmental policies and tourism development objectives, driven by the pursuit of legitimacy. Overall, this research contributes to the critical discourse on the evolution of PA governance. It highlights the significance of understanding these institutional constraints in the context of sustainable tourism governance and evaluates the wider environmental policy implications of tourism growth.
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    The global geopolitical-energy uncertainty index and total factor productivity: New evidence from firm-level analysis
    (Elsevier B.V., 2026-01) Dang THN; Balli F; Balli HO; Qiu M; Nguyen H
    This paper examines the impact of the global geopolitical-energy uncertainty (GEU) on firm-level total factor productivity, considering variation across countries, industries, and firm sizes. Employing the novel GEU index proposed by Dang et al. (2024a) and firm-level annual data from 2001 to 2023, we find strong evidence that the GEU index negatively affects firm productivity. There is heterogeneity in the GEU index's impact. Firms in developed countries such as the US, UK, France, and Germany are more negatively affected, whereas Canadian firms show a positive response. Energy-intensive firms and smaller firms experience stronger negative impacts. Mechanism analysis further demonstrates that both firm level characteristics and macroeconomic energy conditions shape productivity responses to GEU. Higher profitability reduces the negative impact of GEU shocks, while higher cost intensity and higher global energy prices amplify the adverse effects, increasing productivity losses. Our baseline results remain robust under different robustness checks. The paper's findings offer guidance for firms to develop effective strategies to manage risks during periods of heightened geopolitical-energy uncertainty.
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    Distinguishing plant and milk proteins and their interactions in hybrid cheese using confocal Raman microscopy with machine learning
    (Elsevier Limited, United Kingdom, 2026-01-01) Lu D; McGoverin C; Roy D; Acevedo-Fani A; Singh H; Waterland M; Zheng Y; Ye A
    The increasing demand for plant-based alternatives to milk protein has led to the development of hybrid processed cheese analogues (HPCAs) combining plant proteins and casein. However, their complex microstructure and molecular interactions remain poorly understood. This study integrated confocal Raman spectroscopy with advanced machine learning for high-resolution spatial mapping and molecular characterization of HPCAs containing mung bean protein isolate (MPI) or hemp protein isolate (HPI) with casein. This integration helped distinguish between protein sources and elucidate structural changes. The addition of casein changed the HPI structure, promoting structural disorder, disulfide bond rearrangement, and a sharp decrease in the tyrosine doublet ratio from 4.5 in HPI100 to 1.2 in HPI50. Conversely, casein interaction with MPI led to microstructural segregation and changes of β-sheet content (from 53 % in MPI100 to 20 % in MPI30). This integrated method represents a powerful tool for analysing protein structure and interactions in complex food systems.
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    Food spaces that foster student capabilities: insights from a rural Aotearoa New Zealand high school
    (Oxford University Press, 2025-12-01) Reweti AN; Severinsen C; Erueti BTTA-A-PNT; Carter D; Aitken C
    This study explores how a school wharekai (communal dining hall) implementing the Ka Ora, Ka Ako Healthy School Lunch Programme operates as a multidimensional health promotion setting that fosters student capabilities beyond nutrition. Using a qualitative approach grounded in mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) and community-based participatory research, we conducted focus groups with 22 students and semi-structured interviews with 12 staff members to examine how the wharekai promotes wellbeing. Findings show that the wharekai provides a culturally responsive environment where three interrelated capabilities flourish: self-management, interpersonal relationships, and community participation. Through daily routines and authentic roles in food preparation, students practise responsibility, initiative, and cooperation. Shared meals strengthen tuakana–teina (peer) relationships and build trust between students and staff, while collective activities foster belonging, reciprocity, and sustainability. Conceptualizing food spaces through cultural frameworks such as the wharekai demonstrates how school food programmes can simultaneously address food insecurity and create transformative learning environments. This study highlights how culturally grounded, settings-based approaches can integrate nutritional, social, and relational dimensions of health promotion, reimagining school food provision as a holistic, capability-building practice that enhances individual and collective wellbeing.
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    Bowel screening in New Zealand: are men and Pacific peoples being left behind?
    (Taylor & Francis Group, 2022) O’Connor L; Braithwaite-Flores A; Jagroop-Dearing A; Dearing CG
    Colorectal cancer screening participation is influenced by several factors including ethnicity and gender. Results from the first 6 months of a new screening scheme were examined in the Hawke’s Bay region of New Zealand. All residents aged between 60 and 74 years of age who participated in the scheme by returning a faecal immunochemical test kit were included. Participant ethnicity was compared with 2018 Hawke’s Bay Census data. Participants who returned a normal (negative), abnormal (positive) and a spoilt kit (defined as being unable to be processed for testing), were collated and compared for gender and ethnicity. A total of 3444 residents participated in the scheme. Overall, participant ethnicity proportions did not represent the Census population for Hawke’s Bay District Health Board residents. The proportions of Māori and Pacific peoples participating were lower than expected. The odds of returning a spoilt kit were six times higher (p = 0.013) for Pacific peoples and four times higher for men (p = 0.040). This short communication suggests that bowel screening programmes in New Zealand need to collate kit return rates and spoilt kits with the numbers of kits that are actually sent out to ensure equity for bowel screening in New Zealand.
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    Income Risk Sharing Between Korea and Its Regional Partners: Evidence from International Factor Income Flows
    (Taylor and Francis Group on behalf of Korea International Economic Association, 2025-11-06) Choo D; Ko J
    This paper investigates the extent to which Korea shares income risk with its major regional partners through cross-border factor income flows. Using a dataset spanning 1998–2023, disaggregated by income type and partner region, we quantify Korea’s international income risk-sharing performance with eight global regions. Employing a bilateral income risk-sharing framework, we find that Korea achieves modest but statistically significant income smoothing through primary income inflows – particularly investment income – from Southeast Asia (SEA) and the European Union. Among income components, dividend receipts from SEA are the most effective in mitigating idiosyncratic output shocks. In contrast, primary income outflows – especially interest payments to the United States – amplify output volatility, leading to significant income dis-smoothing. These results highlight the heterogeneous nature of Korea’s financial linkages and underscore the importance of diversifying investment flows toward regions offering stronger countercyclical income, thereby enhancing macroeconomic resilience.
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    Fish By-Products Utilization in Food and Health: Extraction Technologies, Bioactive, and Sustainability Challenges
    (Wiley Periodicals LLC, 2025-11) Waqar M; Sajjad N; Ullah Q; Vasanthkumar SS; Ahmed F; Panpipat W; Aluko RE; Kaur L; Chaijan M; Ageru TA
    Fish by-products, traditionally regarded as waste, are increasingly recognized as valuable sources of bioactive compounds, including peptides, omega-3 fatty acids, collagen, and hydroxyapatite. These molecules exhibit significant functional properties with applications in food preservation, dietary supplementation, pharmaceuticals, and cosmeceuticals. This review explores advanced extraction technologies such as enzyme-assisted hydrolysis, supercritical fluid extraction, and cold plasma processing, which enhance the yield and stability of bioactives while supporting zero-waste and circular economy principles. Despite technological progress, key barriers remain, including inconsistent raw material quality, high processing costs, regulatory uncertainty, and limited industrial infrastructure. Peptides and protein hydrolysates derived from fish frames, skins, viscera, and scales have demonstrated antioxidant, antihypertensive, antimicrobial, antidiabetic activities, but translation into functional food and health products is constrained by scalability and regulatory challenges. Future work should focus on optimizing bioprocessing, validating health benefits through clinical trials, and implementing sustainable valorization frameworks. Addressing these challenges will unlock the full potential of fish by-products in advancing food security and human health.
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    Exploring youth vaping in New Zealand intermediate and high schools: a mixed-methods study protocol
    (BioMed Central Limited, part of Springer Nature, London, 2025-12) Jagroop-Dearing A; Lañas–Pangan J; Khan MH; Dearing CG; Forrest RH
    Background: Electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) represent a global growing public-health concern among adolescents. In Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ), daily vaping rates have risen sharply (10.5%) among 15–17-year-olds in 2023/24. This is alarming due to nicotine’s addictive nature and its impact on adolescent brain development, mental health, and academic performance. Māori youth and those in socio-economically deprived areas are disproportionately affected, exacerbating existing health-inequities. Legislative frameworks prohibit vaping on school premises, yet ease of access remains a concern. Punitive school responses are increasingly viewed as harmful and ineffective, highlighting an urgent need for evidence-based, health-centred interventions. Methods: This multiphase, mixed-methods study explores vaping within secondary schools on the East Coast, NZ. Phase 1 involves online surveys to collect quantitative data on vaping behaviours, targeting 1375 students to ensure sufficient statistical power. Initial qualitative data will be gathered alongside. Phase 2 employs in-depth interviews and focus groups with students (vapers/non-vapers) and staff to explore perceptions of health risks, access, and effectiveness of school responses. A rapid scoping review (RSR) will synthesise existing research on adolescent vaping in Oceanic countries, identifying behavioural patterns, legislative impacts, and gaps in the evidence base. Discussion: This protocol addresses critical knowledge gaps by integrating quantitative and qualitative findings with a RSR. This study aims to inform the development of culturally appropriate, health-based, vape prevention and cessation strategies. Ultimately, findings may support a paradigm shift away from punitive disciplinary measures towards supportive school-based interventions, that improve public-health outcomes and reduce health inequities.
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    Accurate Facial Temperature Measurement Using Low-Cost Thermal Camera for Indoor Thermal Comfort Applications
    (MDPI AG, Basel, 2025-11) Ahsan M; Shahzad W; Arif KM
    Non-contact measurement of human skin temperature is an important area of research. Infrared temperature devices have played a critical role in measuring skin temperature without physical contact. Thermal cameras have also been employed for non-contact skin temperature measurements. However, both infrared devices and thermal cameras have limitations that restrict their use in the building industry for assessing occupant thermal comfort. The building industry requires sophisticated equipment capable of measuring human temperature non-invasively and, through integration with building control systems, adjusting the environment to meet occupants’ thermal comfort needs. Unfortunately, standard thermal cameras and infrared temperature sensors are not designed with building applications in mind. This paper proposes an affordable and building-compatible thermal camera designed to measure occupant skin temperature via a non-contact method, enabling better integration with building control systems to support occupant comfort. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed system can reliably capture facial skin temperature and establish a quantifiable relationship between facial and room temperatures. Moreover, this provides a foundation for future real-time thermal comfort and building-control applications.
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    pH-responsive compartmentalized alginate beads enable spatial control of sequential nanozyme reactions
    (Elsevier BV, Netherlands, 2025-12-01) Yang H; Whitby CP; Travas-Sejdic J
    Controlling two-step sequential catalytic reactions through external stimuli is a powerful approach for developing responsive chemical systems with potential applications in, for example, logic-gated sensing, process-sequence checking and programmable pollutant remediation. Here, a pH-responsive compartmentalized hydrogel bead system was fabricated via coaxial microfluidic electrospray, in which gold (Au) and iron oxide (Fe3O4) nanozymes were spatially segregated into distinct domains. We systematically assessed the pH-dependent reactivity of Au and Fe3O4 nanozymes between pH 2 and 9 to evaluate individual catalytic activities. Au nanoparticles (AuNPs) exhibited glucose oxidase (GOx)-like activity at pH 8–9, quantified by a cobalt‑carbonate (Co/CO₃) UV–vis assay, while Fe3O4 NPs showed strong peroxidase (POD)-like activity at pH 2–3, quantified by 2,2′-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) diammonium salt (ABTS) oxidation. Leveraging this pH-selective behaviour, the Au-rich domain catalyses glucose oxidation to generate hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), which then diffuses into the Fe3O4-rich domain for decomposition. Compared to free and single hydrogel system, the compartmentalized system enhances the reaction efficiency by minimizing interference between nanozymes through spatial separation.