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The true impact of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) on human health is far from being understood. Humans are exposed to mixtures of chemicals throughout their lives, yet regulations and most studies focus on individual chemicals. ENDOMIX takes a novel approach to identifying associations and causality between EDCs and adverse health outcomes by focusing on exposure to mixtures of EDCs over the life course, including windows of susceptibility, using human biomonitoring data from several European cohorts. We will model and measure how real-life EDC mixtures act together and target the immune system to initiate, trigger or maintain disease. Health effects will be investigated using pioneering methodologies ranging from high-throughput in vitro bioassays, sophisticated organoid and co-culture systems, to in vivo models. In combination, they will provide valuable information on mechanistic pathways and transgenerational effects of EDC exposure. We aim to identify biomarkers and patterns of chemical exposures that are easy to measure, available for large cohorts and indicative for adverse health outcomes. We will use in vitro, in silico and in vivo data to strengthen causal inference using a weight-of-evidence approach. Moreover, using novel text mining methods, we will create knowledge graphs to capture and summarize the complexity of biomechanistic information, which aids rapid risk assessments and the creation of network models. The knowledge generated by ENDOMIX will provide an evidence base for policy-making and also reach people of all ages to raise awareness of the risks of EDC exposure and encourage health-promoting behaviors.

This study explores the intellectual and personal development of English Language students in study abroad programs, with an emphasis on the benefits of immersion in the target country. Thirty students from the University "Ukshin Hoti" Prizren, enrolled in graduate and undergraduate studies abroad, were interviewed and surveyed using questionnaires to show their attitudes and experiences. The findings show that immersion helped significantly in acquiring the language. This is consistent with the fact that most of these students, having begun learning English at primary level and self-assessed themselves as already being well-equipped before studying abroad, further built a solid foundation through immersion to excel in English. Studying abroad was regarded as a gateway to career success, and as making them more marketable in the global employment market by providing them with bilingual competence and intercultural awareness that is needed in workplaces that are ever more globalized. The case study informs an understanding of how study abroad provision can have an influence on students' future engagement with the language. Participants reported substantial improvement in their capacity to think in English more directly rather than translating from Albanian - a measure of the effect of study abroad on language learning and individual transformation.

While it has almost become a truism of comparative linguistics that linguistic diversity is unevently distributed across the globe, the underlying processes are poorly understood up to the present day. Linguists are thus in the embarassing situation that they do not understand significant regularities in the way the objects of their study -languages- pattern. In this essay, I explore three interrelated strands of thought to create a perspective on the question that is different from those explored so far: first, I suggest that instead of looking at present-day levels of diversity statically, we should take an approach that looks into how these distributions were generated. Related to this point and in contradistinction to extant work, second, I advocate an inductive approach which includes qualitative case studies that inform theory-building and allow empirical judgments on the propensity of certain environments to foster the emergence of certain linguistic landscapes. Third, I ponder that, in contrast to the traditional focus of historical linguistics on language diversification and expansion, understanding how the ranges of languages are reduced might be the key missing piece of evidence in a global theory of linguistic diversity and its genesis. This new perspective is also able to address the striking correlation between linguistic and biological diversity, which suggests that the processes that created and maintain both are, on some level, qualitatively similar.

Actions to strengthen climate resilience are gaining more traction. In order to ensure effective adaptation, it is important to monitor the outcomes and impacts of these actions. However, there are numerous challenges and a multitude of approaches when it comes to monitoring adaptation to climate change. This paper addresses challenges and lessons learned in setting up mechanisms for monitoring climate resilience and adaptation projects. Drawing from three EU Horizon 2020 projects under the EU Mission on Adaptation to Climate Change, it synthesizes insights to support future initiatives in their monitoring endeavors for other projects to learn from. Findings, acquired through workshops with experts, highlight four key challenges and the projects' learnings: the challenge of tailoring global frameworks to local needs, data availability and evaluation of data, interdisciplinary collaboration in monitoring, and stakeholder engagement for monitoring endeavors.

Micromobility is a form of transportation and an efficient urban mobility solution that can include human-powered or electric vehicles for short-distance travel such as traditional bicycles, e-bikes, and e-scooters. It refers to lightweight personal vehicles with a maximum speed of 45 km/h and a maximum weight of 350 kg. Effectively, micromobility safety represents one of the most critical concerns of vulnerable road users (VRUs) such as cyclists and employees of courier companies. Various measures and micromobility protective equipment (PE) have been used to enhance VRU safety and reduce traffic accidents involving VRUs. Therefore, evaluating the effectiveness of these PE such as high-visibility clothing and helmets is very important to ensure that they can successfully prevent or reduce the risk of accidents and injuries. In this paper, we present a data-driven approach for evaluating the effectiveness of micromobility PE. This novel method relies on data collected directly from micro-vehicles and their users by using various techniques, including a web-based questionnaire, micro-vehicle sensor kit, and micromobility hazards detector. Effectively, these data collection tools, services, and questionnaire have been developed and designed to be used for collecting real data as soon as the participants recruiting process is finalised. Therefore, synthetic data were generated and used to demonstrate that the proposed method is feasible and can work in practice. This data is solely used to show some examples of data analysis procedures and to demonstrate some results as a proof-of-concept for micromobility PE effectiveness evaluation. Hence, the all findings mentioned in this paper are not actual or empirical results but provided only for illustrative purposes to show the format of the expected results when real data is used.

Background: In coconut production, less than one third of the button nuts produced in an inflorescence eventually develop into mature nuts, as a result of fruit rot and premature nut fall diseases. Botryodiplodia theobromae is linked to the fruit rot and premature nut fall diseases of coconut, resulting in consequential yield loss of over 60%. Furthermore, the fungus poses a concern to plants, farmers, and plant health authorities because it may survive in plant materials as an endophyte, escaping the quarantine process. This study was carried out to analyse the cultural, morphological, and molecular characters of B. theobromae associated with these diseases in coconut fruits.

Methods: Eight isolates of B. theobromae used in this study were collected from diseased coconut fruit samples (showing signs of rot and freshly fallen nuts) in two major coconut producing areas in Nigeria. Pure culture of isolates were obtained using potato dextrose agar (PDA) medium. The culture medium and microscopy were used to also examine the cultural and morphological characters of isolates. For molecular characters of isolates, DNA was extracted from each isolate and amplified with a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using a universal primer (ITS1F/4R) and three specific primers (Lt347-F/R, Bt2aF/bR, and EF1-728F/EF2-728R). Furthermore, PCR amplicons obtained from the ITS1F/4R primers were sequenced and analyzed using bioinformatics and phylogenetic methods. The genetic similarity and variation of isolates were also determined.

Results: The colony texture/color, ITS1/4 gene sequence information and phylogenetic analysis clustered the eight isolates of B. theobromae into five categories. The ITS1/4 sequence information using a blast search in the NCBI database, confirmed all eight fungal isolates as B. theobromae.

Conclusion: This study has provided a guide for proper categorization of B. theobromae, that is a prerequisite for early diagnosis and management of this pathogen in coconut producing areas.

This article introduces and theorises the concept of platform gentrification as a structural mutation in the production of urban inequalities under platform capitalism. Departing from the classical four characteristics of gentrification-capital reinvestment, arrival of new higher-status groups, landscape transformation, and displacement-this paper reinterprets these dimensions through the lens of the on-demand city, where digital rent platforms (e.g. Airbnb®), social media platforms (e.g. Instagram®), ride-hailing services (e.g. Uber®), and coworking companies (e.g. WeWork®) mediate, valorise, and restructure urban life. Rather than adding a new typology to the gentrification debate, platform gentrification is proposed as a critical framework to understand how algorithmic mediation, digital economies, and data-driven infrastructures reshape real estate markets, urban aesthetics, residential dynamics, and modes of exclusion. The paper argues that platform infrastructures not only organise mobility, consumption, and visibility, but also anticipate and accelerate new forms of displacement, both physical and symbolic. This concept is developed here as an interpretative tool particularly relevant for highly digitised urban environments, where the mediation of everyday life through platforms has become an invisible infrastructure of urban change.

Hanak's bat ( Pipistrellus hanaki Hulva and Benda 2004) is one of the most range restricted mammals in Europe, since it occurs only in Cyrenaica, Libya, and Crete (Greece). It is currently classified as 'Vulnerable' on the IUCN Red List, with its foraging habitat threatened by a number of human activities. The reference genome of Hanak's bat ( Pipistrellus hanaki) will provide a crucial resource for uncovering the species phylogenetic history and will help assess the degree of genetic isolation among its populations. A total of 23 contiguous chromosomal pseudomolecules (sex chromosomes included) were assembled from the genome sequence. This chromosome-level assembly encompasses 1.9 Gb, composed of 447 contigs and 141 scaffolds, with contig and scaffold N50 values of 48.7 Mb and 89.1 Mb, respectively.

This article investigates the memorialization of migrant women across transcultural landscapes, and analyses results from the Register of Migrant Women Landmarks in Europe (hereinafter RMWLE), central to the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) action project "Women on the Move" (CA19112 - WEMov). It serves as reference for subsequent research based on data from this Register, for which data collection is continuing. The RMWLE registers landmarks, such as monuments, plaques, streets and other toponymic infrastructures named after women with a significant history of migration. It honours aspects rarely prioritized in memorialization agendas, which are skewed towards men's stories, and towards the more linear biographies of sedentary figures whose European, national, and regional memorialization have remained uncomplicated by migration. This Deep Data study reveals recurring patterns at the level of Europe in the memorialization of these women migrants. The diversity of stories, the richness and the prominence of landmarks devoted to men compared to women is a subject well-covered in memorialization studies. This unbalance is compounded by the data from our register which shows landmarks on women migrants that are sometime tokenized, often marginalized, and which reproduce the bias towards nurture and care that have besieged the memorialization of women in general. It further shows that the memorialization process and the political and cultural mechanisms of official commemoration often work against the recognition of cross-border careers and stories. The intersectionality of the project, highlighting both gender and migration, uncovers a political landscape of landmarks - and we reflect on how this register can help combat cultural prejudice by recovering migration episodes. The RMWLE helps us reflect on the defining impact of migration episodes, a reality rarely underlined in the biographies of famous women. This article is based on a quantitative content analysis, focused on identifying measurable features and frequencies within the RMLWE dataset, and combines it with a storytelling approach at the interpretation stage, to counter dominant cultural narratives and knowledge practices.

Background: According to the Council of International Organizations and Medical Sciences (CIOMS) 2016, post-trial access (PTA) means ensuring that communities involved in research can benefit from the treatments, products, and knowledge developed during the study. Although laws and policies on PTA are still limited, the topic has recently gained attention as part of efforts to promote fair benefit sharing with low- and middle-income countries. In sub-Saharan Africa, where clinical trials have significantly increased over the past two decades, information on how PTA is planned and implemented remains scarce. This study examines how PTA was addressed in clinical trials for Tuberculosis (TB), Malaria, and Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) conducted in the region between 2008 and 2019.

Objective: The study aims to identify gaps in PTA planning and arrangements implementation, and suggest strategies for improving access to trial interventions and knowledge post-research.

Method: A quantitative, cross-sectional study was conducted, using a self- administered online questionnaire to assess the PTA planning and implementation practices of Principal Investigators (PIs), co-PIs, trial coordinators, and sponsors involved in clinical trials in malaria, tuberculosis and NTDs across sub-Saharan African countries. Of the 300 invited potential participants, 37 provided complete responses.

Findings: A large proportion (43%) of the study respondents did not provide PTA plans for TB, Malaria, and NTDs in clinical trials. The findings highlight an overall lack of formalized PTA policies and commitments in clinical trials for TB, Malaria, and NTDs in sub-Saharan Africa. Most of the study participants (70.3%) expressed the need for PTA training.

Conclusion: Although the study offers valuable insights into PTA planning and practices, its generalizability may be limited by factors such as geographical and disease focus, reliance on self-reported data, and stakeholder representation. Despite these limitations, the study underscores an urgent need for structured PTA policy training programs, stakeholder collaboration, and effective training. Its findings can serve as a foundation for further research and policy development to enhance PTA in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs).