Efforts to revitalise rural areas are increasingly turning towards approaches that balance functional and aesthetic values, as well as the emotional element that people have for such places. There are broad implications for communities in this sense and far beyond their local environment. Research in International Journal of Environment and Pollution has combined scientific visual analysis with participatory planning techniques and offers a new model for rural development that is both technically informed and grounded in the lives of residents.

The work focuses on the "rural scene", which is not just about how rural areas look, but about how they function and how we experience them. The research proposes that enhancing rural environments should not be just a cosmetic task, but should include strategic interventions that have a wide range of goals. These goals might include improving the quality of life for residents, encouraging tourism, stimulating local economies, and preserving cultural identity.

The researchers combined two distinct methodologies to carry out their analysis. The first is "entropy image analysis"a technique derived from information theory and applied here to the visual structure of rural landscapes. In this context, "entropy" refers to the complexity and variability of visual information in a scene. A high-entropy image might feature a chaotic mixture of elements, cluttered signs, jarring colours, or disordered layouts, while a low-entropy image appears more coherent and visually calm.

By applying this kind of entropy analysis, planners can assess how factors such as clarity, visual openness, texture, and colour affect how people feel emotionally about a place. The researchers found that certain configurations, those perceived as open, orderly, and visually rich, were associated with being relaxing and aesthetically pleasing. This insight might allow designers to move beyond intuition and use data to shape environments that are emotionally engaging as well as functionally effective.

The second component of the work was co-creation design tools that give rural residents a greater say in shaping their surroundings. These tools include both digital platforms and in-person workshops, which invite a range of participants, villagers, designers, officials, and even tourists, to collaborate on development plans.

This marks a shift away from the top-down models of rural reconstruction that have simply seen government agencies or urban-based design firms taking the lead. Such an approach with only limited consultation with those who live and work in these rural communities often means tourism or infrastructure is improved, but not the daily needs nor the cultural expectations of the people who live there. Co-creation seeks to correct this imbalance.

Wang, W., Zhou, D., Yan, L., Sun, Q. and Teng, Y. (2025) 'Visualising micro-renewal in rural landscapes: design and application of co-creation tool', Int. J. Environment and Pollution, Vol. 75, No. 5, pp.1–22.
DOI: 10.1504/IJEP.2025.146551

Research in the International Journal of Management and Enterprise Development has looked at how Sámi entrepreneurs in Northern Sweden and Norway are reshaping the concept of rural business. The Sámi are the indigenous people of Norway, Sweden, the Kola Peninsula, and Finland.

The work suggests that far from being confined to their immediate locales, indigenous business owners are actively bridging the local and the global, drawing on cultural heritage while engaging with networks that stretch well beyond their home territories. The research offers a new look at the implications for how rural entrepreneurship is understood and supported. It could be equally applicable beyond the European Arctic across complex cultural and environmental landscapes worldwide.

The researchers used four case studies, following Sámi entrepreneurs to see how they navigate their "spatial contexts", a term used to capture both rooted places imbued with cultural and historical significance, and the broader movements and relationships that cross local boundaries. Revealing this dual relationship with space challenges the received wisdom that rural business is inherently place-bound and reliant solely on local resources, labour, and markets.

The Sámi offer a unique perspective on rural entrepreneurship. Historically, they live a semi-nomadic lifestyle with reindeer herding being perhaps the most well-known of their activities. As such, the people have always operated across vast territories and through what are now national borders. Today, this legacy of mobility gives their businesses not only a regional identity but allows them to work on a much wider, sometimes internationally.

The research works beyond conventional business theory and identifies key motivations and methods used by Sámi entrepreneurs to navigate their spatial contexts. The work then shows how Sámi entrepreneurs integrate cultural values into their business practices. Rather than viewing tradition and innovation as opposing forces, they blend them and go beyond simplistic economic survival to encompass well-being, cultural continuity, and environmental balance. Such an integrated approach is largely absent from mainstream entrepreneurship discourse, but the new findings might be used to improve policy affecting the Sámi and other entrepreneurs way beyond this region.

Jørgensen, E.J.B., Johansson, J., Nygaard, V. Öhman, M-B. (2025) 'Both right nearby and far away: Rural Sámi entrepreneurs' engagement with spatial contexts', Int. J. Management and Enterprise Development, Vol. 24, No. 5, pp.1–22.
DOI: 10.1504/IJMED.2025.145210

Enterprise resource planning systems could transform management accounting for publicly listed firms, according to research in the International Journal of Economics and Business Research. The focus of the work is on Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and offers both practical insights for business leaders and a broader perspective on digital transformation that could apply to other emerging markets.

Vietnam, as with many emerging markets, is undergoing rapid digital transformation. Listed companies in Vietnam are particularly relevant subjects due to their visibility, regulatory obligations, and the growing need for transparency.

Tran Thi Phuong Lan and Duong Thi Thuy Lien of the University of Finance-Marketing in Ho Chi Minh City, explains that enterprise resource planning systems are integrated software platforms that bring together various business functions ranging from finance and human resources to procurement and supply chain management. This integration into a centralised digital framework allows real-time data sharing and more coordinated workflows among company departments. For management accountants, this means a shift away from traditional, manual data processing towards a more strategic, analysis-driven role.

The research focuses on management accounting practices, internal methods and tools used by firms to assess financial performance, allocate resources, and support strategic decision-making. The efficiency of such practices is crucial to a company's long-term viability. In Vietnam, where companies face increasing pressure to meet global standards, enterprise resource planning systems will help them modernise their internal processes.

The team found that the key to successful implementation of enterprise resource planning is strong commitment from senior management. Companies where leadership actively supports the rollout of these systems through resource allocation, clear goal-setting, and cultural endorsement are far more likely to see improvements in management accounting practices. The researchers add that other influential factors, such as the quality of the used software, vendor support, adaptability of the organisational structure, and incorporation of complementary technologies are also important to success.

Lan, T.T.P. and Lien, D.T.T. (2025) 'Factors affecting management accounting practices under mediating role of enterprise resource planning system: case in Vietnam', Int. J. Economics and Business Research, Vol. 29, No. 13, pp.29–49.
DOI: 10.1504/IJEBR.2025.146379

A new approach to assessing educational quality in teaching is discussed in the International Journal of Computational Systems Engineering. The approach improves on earlier methods by side-stepping reliance on top-down performance evaluations and instead blends traditional classroom instruction with digital tools, with the aim of building more adaptable, inclusive, and data-informed learning environments.

Central to this new approach is a dynamic feedback system that monitors not just what students learn, but how they learn. It also considers how external factors might interrupt or shape their learning. The system looks at teaching effectiveness, student adaptability, and the impact of classroom disruptions. Most importantly, though, it puts both teachers and students at the centre of attention, regarding them as being in an active partnership. Instead of the conventional one-way street of teaching, the team offers a collaborative model of responsibility for educational outcomes in what they refer to as the "school effort partnership".

The team explains that educational success depends not simply on curriculum content, but on the interplay between the teacher's knowledge and their students' capabilities. In this new approach, teachers are encouraged to take on the role of facilitators, they are then guides who might adapt their methods based on real-time feedback. For their part, the students are expected to develop what the researchers term "inventive consciousness" a state of active, creative, self-directed engagement with the learning tasks presented to them.

Classroom observations and surveys have given them the empirical evidence to show that this approach can work well. It is especially successful in the education of students struggling with behavioural or attention-related challenges. When teachers adjust their approaches based on student needs and classroom dynamics, the team saw measurable improvements in participation and comprehension.

At a time when educational inequality is a persistent problem and when digital transformations continue to reshape work and life, this new approach could provide a timely, educational solution based on a more holistic view of teaching and learning that uses the very digital tools that have disrupted other areas of human endeavour.

Huang, C., Zhang, F. and Li, X. (2025) 'A network model for a mobile learning environment to track students' progress', Int. J. Computational Systems Engineering, Vol. 9, No. 9, pp.1–8.
DOI: 10.1504/IJCSYSE.2025.146390

Efforts to combat food waste in university canteens have generally focused on what students leave on their plates. A study in the International Journal of Environment and Waste Management turns the tables on campus catering and suggests that there are opportunities for saving server-side too.

Food waste is more than a logistical inconvenience, explain Boineelo Pearl Lefadola, Annemarie Viljoen, and Gerrie du Rand of University of Pretoria in South Africa. It is a growing problem feeding into climate change, resource depletion, and falling global food security. Unfortunately, many interventions in institutional settings remain reactive rather than proactive and tend to home in on the plate-scraping after the dining session is over rather than looking at improving efficiency in the kitchen and behind the serving hatch.

The team recommends a systems approach that puts every aspect of food service on the efficiency menu. For starters, they consider ingredient procurement, the mains of storage, preparation, service, and the just desserts of food waste disposal. Systems theory cooks up the idea that inefficiencies or failures at any stage can ripple through to the next course, fattening up the waste bins. The team looked at the data, talked to staff, focus groups, and made first-hand observations within a university's food service operation.

Their findings reveal that setting a place for a series of coordinated practices can significantly reduce waste. Improving various aspects of a canteen's operations can improve efficiency and reduce food waste from automated inventory that forecasts and aligns supply and demand, strict adherence to food quality and storage protocols, careful portioning based on consistent recipes, and tight controls on timing and temperature during preparation and service, can all help. Carrying out routine meal audits further help staff identify and address sources of excess and so waste. Combining all these ingredients offers a tasty recipe for change, the research suggests.

Lefadola, B.P., Viljoen, A. and du Rand, G. (2025) 'Tackling food waste in a university food service operation: a case study', Int. J. Environment and Waste Management, Vol. 36, No. 5, pp.1–14.
DOI: 10.1504/IJEWM.2025.146362

A new research framework discussed in the International Journal of Environmental Technology and Management, could offer a new approach to assessing the sustainability of technologies at their earliest stages, long before they enter the marketplace. The framework addresses a longstanding gap in how innovation is guided in relation to environmental and social goals.

Traditional tools such as life cycle assessments (LCA) have been the standard for evaluating environmental impacts of technologies. These tools assess emissions, resource consumption, and waste across a product's full lifecycle. However, they are typically applied once a technology is close to commercial deployment or already in use. That delay means that key decisions about design, materials, and production methods, which are often made during the research and development phase, are commonly made without the benefit of a structured sustainability assessment.

The new framework, developed from eight real-world case studies, moves the assessment to a much earlier stage and so equips those in R&D with the means to consider sustainability not as a retrospective measurement, but as a real-time guide embedded in the innovation process. The implication is that the approach could be used at the conceptual and prototyping phases.

The researchers describe their framework as having a two-pronged basis. First, it examines the long-term sustainability potential of a technology across its lifecycle, from creation and use through to obsolescence. Secondly, it looks at the R&D process itself and allows sustainability principles to be integrated into how the technology is conceived and developed. This part of the assessment also considers how it interacts with supply chains, user communities, and society itself.

However, because early-stage technologies often lack precise data, the framework blends qualitative assessments with quantitative indicators. These indicators, known as key performance indicators, are selected based on relevance to the specific technology under study. Not every project will weigh each dimension equally. The model is quite adaptable and rather than imposing a universal checklist, it encourages research teams to define appropriate indicators and goals suited to their technological context. Some may prioritize carbon reduction, others might focus on labour impacts, yet others community benefits.

Viles, E., Santos, J., López, A., Revilla, O. and Rios-Davila, F-J. (2025) 'Exploring sustainability in emerging technologies: a reference framework utilising multicase studies', Int. J. Environmental Technology and Management, Vol. 28, No. 7, pp.1–23.
DOI: 10.1504/IJETM.2025.146352

As so-called artificial intelligence (AI) becomes increasingly embedded in higher education, a study in the International Journal of Technology Enhanced Learning has looked at how academic faculty in higher education perceive and engage with one of the field's most prominent tools, the large language model known as ChatGPT. ChatGPT is not AI per se, rather it is a system capable of generating apparently coherent and contextually appropriate human-like responses to questions and prompts. Its sophistication is met with both enthusiasm and concern across educational settings.

Walaa Abdulaziz Al Muhanna of the Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University in Al Kharj, Saudi Arabia, surveyed 320 university faculty members. She asked about their awareness of OpenAI's ChatGPT tool as well as their attitudes toward its use in teaching, and the obstacles they face in implementing it, if that is something they do.

The findings suggest most faculty members are well aware of the existence of ChatGPT and understand its capabilities and perhaps even its limitations. The greatest level of awareness is among male faculty and those in the higher academic ranks. However, this awareness does not always correlate with confident use. Challenges exist that suggest that the integration of this large language model (LLM) into education is not straightforward.

Moreover, given that the most experienced educators, assistant and associate professors, for instance, were more likely to report challenges with ChatGPT adoption. Their misgivings were not rooted in an inherent opposition to the technology, but rather to concerns about its practical deployment, the accuracy and relevance of AI-generated content, digital literacy gaps, and unresolved questions about ethical use. For example, educators felt that students might misuse the tool for assignments. They also felt that the potential for intrinsic bias in training data or even misinformation might colour the positive aspects of ChatGPT use.

The tool has the potential to automate routine academic tasks, offer alternative learning materials, and perhaps even facilitate more engaging classroom discussions. The research suggests that there is a need to create peer learning networks and collaborative spaces for educators, who can then share strategies and experiences regarding LLMs.

Al Muhanna, W.A. (2025) 'Exploring faculty awareness of ChatGPT technology in teaching at Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University', Int. J. Technology Enhanced Learning, Vol. 17, No. 5, pp.1–30.
DOI: 10.1504/IJTEL.2025.146302

Research in the International Journal of Information and Computer Security has looked at the potential for artificial intelligence (AI) systems to detect and mitigate cyberbullying on social media platforms. The work might be a useful tool for safeguarding users, especially children and adolescents.

Cyberbullying, defined as intentional, harmful behaviour conducted via digital means such as messages, images, or videos, has become a significant problem in online spaces. In its digital form, bullying can be persistent, ubiquitous, and beyond the reach of parents, teachers, or platform moderators. Its victims can experience anxiety and depression to suicidal thoughts. The challenge of addressing this kind of abuse at scale, across the billions of interactions generated daily on social media, represents an enormous technological challenge.

In this current work, the team has developed a hybrid deep-learning system that uses two distinct neural network architectures: a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) and a Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) network to meet the challenge. CNNs are typically used in image and pattern recognition tasks and in this case can identify specific features of text, such as bullying-related keywords or phrases. LSTMs, on the other hand, are designed to analyse sequences of data and interpret their context and the emotional content of the language used.

By combining the strengths of both CNNs and LSTMs, the team's hybrid system can not only detect blatant insults but can also spot more subtle, context-dependent forms of harassment that might evade simpler detection systems.

The team has demonstrated that their system can handle vast streams of content in real time with a high degree of accuracy and so be used to automate moderation of content where manual moderation would fail.

While no algorithm can wholly replace human judgement or solve the more profound social roots of online abuse, this research represents a new tool in the technological toolkit for combat cyberbullying.

Geetha, R., Jebamalar, G.B., Vignesh, B.G.D., Kamalanaban, E. and Doss, S. (2025) 'An efficient cyberbullying detection framework on social media platforms using a hybrid deep learning model', Int. J. Information and Computer Security, Vol. 26, No. 3, pp.255–271.
DOI: 10.1504/IJICS.2025.146156

The climate crisis has shifted from scientific discourse to lived experience, affecting millions of people worldwide and the environment we all share. Yet, political responses remain fragmented and often simply rhetorical, hot air, if you will! This is perhaps no more obvious than with recent summits, where leaders fail to agree on a unified plan despite members representing the bulk of global emissions. The systemic and international complacency threatens fundamental human rights, including the right to life, safety, and dignity.

However, a new approach has emerged, apocalyptic environmentalism. This narrative frames climate change as an existential threat, using alarmist rhetoric to provoke urgency and disrupt political stagnation. Activists and their activities are highlighted frequently in the news and receive a lot of attention on social media. The younger activists see political inaction as a betrayal of future generations.

This kind of activism has been somewhat effective in mobilizing grassroots movements, but such apocalyptic storytelling carries risks. Research in the International Journal of Human Rights and Constitutional Studies alludes to the fatalism it can foster. This leaves the public overwhelmed and disempowered by the message rather than motivated to act. Moreover, at the extremes, this type of activism lacks a clear roadmap for tangible change, offering fear without direction.

By contrast, the politicians persist with their rhetorical narrative. They acknowledge climate urgency but emphasise the preservation of current economic structures, the very structures that are causing environmental degradation in the first place, such as continued fossil fuel subsidies. The politicians attempt to maintain the illusion of progress without demanding systemic change, thus delaying meaningful climate action.

Between the despair and the denial, climate change discourse finds itself at an impasse. Scholars, seeing the faults in both perspectives, increasingly advocate for a balanced narrative, one that combines the emotional force of apocalyptic urgency with pragmatic solutions. This alternative approach emphasizes human agency, collective resilience, and adaptive strategies. It reframes climate change not as an impending apocalypse but as a challenge we can address, given the political and public will.

Kumar, M., Sharan, N. and Pandey, S. (2025) ''Why aren't people terrified?!' Analysing the efficacy of the apocalyptic narrative of climate change', Int. J. Human Rights and Constitutional Studies, Vol. 12, No. 2, pp.129–141.
DOI: 10.1504/IJHRCS.2025.145268

A research team writing in the International Journal of Environment and Sustainable Development has looked at agriculture in Ghana and puts forward a compelling case for rethinking how water is managed in such areas as the country's Upper West Region.

As Sub-Saharan Africa struggles to cope with environmental and demographic pressures, the team argues that combining circular water management with nanotechnology could provide a sustainable and scalable solution to the deepening crisis of water scarcity and food insecurity. Despite the fact that agriculture is the backbone of rural economies across Sub-Saharan Africa, underpinning livelihoods, food supply, and contributing significantly to gross domestic product, it is increasingly vulnerable. Climate change has made rainfall less predictable. Population growth is intensifying demand for food and water. Over-reliance on rain-fed farming, coupled with widespread environmental degradation and the mismanagement of water resources, has led to declining yields and more problems for rural communities.

The research involved interviews with experts and focus group discussions to look at how innovation might help agricultural water use. The work advocates for circular water management: a system in which water is reused and recycled through closed loops, minimizing waste and conserving resources. The use of nanotechnology could facilitate this kind of approach by providing effective contaminant removal or desalination of retrieved irrigation water. Nano-membranes and filters can isolate harmful substances at a fraction of the cost and energy required by water-processing systems. Circular water management could thus reduce a farm's reliance on unpredictable rainfall and limits the need for additional water extraction from rivers and aquifers.

The researchers focused on Ghana in their study, but the findings could be used across Sub-Saharan Africa, where smallholder farmers face almost identical challenges. By boosting resilience and productivity through reduced water use, the approach could help reduce poverty, improve nutrition, and create jobs.

Boon, E.K., Gross, T.K.F., Oppong-Boateng, R. and Karintseva, O. (2025) 'Circular water management solutions for optimising irrigated agricultural production in Ghana: the relevance of nanotechnology', Int. J. Environment and Sustainable Development, Vol. 24, No. 2, pp.115–144.
DOI: 10.1504/IJESD.2025.145318