The Indonesian government promotes geothermal energy development to support national decarbonization goals and international climate commitments. However, several geothermal projects faced prolonged community resistance, including in Padarancang, where opposition persisted for more than fifteen years. This article examines social acceptance not as a community-level attitude alone, but as an outcome shaped by interactions across multiple governance levels. This study employed a qualitative case study approach. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, observations, and document analysis, then analyzed thematically. The findings showed that community resistance was not driven by misinformation or limited awareness. Instead, it constituted a structured and reflective political response to exclusionary governance practices. Although the project enjoyed strong socio-political and market acceptance at the national level (supported by policy frameworks, investment instruments, and local government compliance), this legitimacy did not translate downward. A gap emerged between formal, policy-based legitimacy and social legitimacy at the community level. Low community acceptance was primarily driven by limited participation in decision-making. It also stemmed from perceived environmental, social, and cultural risks that were not balanced by meaningful local benefits. The study further demonstrated that multi-level governance (MLG) in geothermal development operated predominantly in a top-down and disciplinary manner. Authority was centralized, while responsibility for managing social conflict was displaced to local actors. This paper reconceptualizes social acceptance as a cross-level governance outcome. It shows how misalignment across governance scales can undermine renewable energy transitions and contribute to the failure of achieving national and international energy mix targets.

Open Access
Toward Sustainable Banking Practices: Risk Management Committees, Environmental, Social, and Governance Practices, and Biodiversity Disclosureayad jumaah khalaf
, ahmed fadhil saleh
, sinan raheem jasim
, ahmed mohammed khalaf
, adel muwafaq kadhim
, mohammed ibrahim al-rifai
, abdulsamad sabah mahdi
, abdulsattar salih al-bilawi
, dheyab ahmed abdulateef 
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Available online: 07-03-2026
The study aims to explore the role of the characteristics of the risk management committee (RMC) on biodiversity disclosure (BioDD), while analyzing the moderating role of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) disclosure practices in the Iraqi banking sector. The importance of the study stems from the growing global interest in environmental disclosure and the role of corporate governance in improving transparency and sustainability in emerging economies. The study is based on a sample of 30 banks listed on the Iraqi Stock Exchange for the period from 2022 to 2025, with a total of 120 observations. Quantitative measurement of variables and multiple hierarchical regression analysis were used to test the hypotheses of the study. The results show that RMC characteristics have a positive and statistically significant association with BioDD, and ESG disclosure is significantly associated with the moderating effect observed in the RMC–BioDD relationship. In addition, bank size is positively related to BioDD. The study contributes to the emerging literature on BioDD by integrating RMC and ESG frameworks within agency, legitimacy, and stakeholder theories. It also offers practical implications for regulators and banking executives on integrating sustainability considerations into ESG risk frameworks to improve BioDD quality. Ultimately, this study addresses a literature gap regarding emerging markets and provides empirical evidence to inform sustainable banking practices in the Iraqi context.
Nonlinear plasma evolution in microgravity cannot be reliably characterized under terrestrial gravity because buoyancy-driven convection modifies or suppresses the intrinsic instability mechanisms. Consequently, the predictive design and safe operation of electromagnetically actuated plasma engineering systems require a unified theoretical framework capable of distinguishing gravity-independent behavior from phenomena that emerge only under microgravity conditions. A microgravity nonlinear plasma platform was therefore established as a multi-physics governance framework that defines the physical and mathematical conditions under which nonlinear plasma evolution becomes microgravity-dependent while providing quantitative criteria for operational stability. A dimensionless governance ratio was introduced as the principal classification metric, coupling the electromagnetic control bandwidth with the nonlinear instability growth rate. The framework was further integrated with a three-tier distributed intelligent governance of stabilized plasmas supervisory architecture, through which electromagnetic actuation, thermal-ionization energy balance, and structural boundary response are coordinated across multiple interacting physical domains. Three operating regimes were thereby defined: admissible (R > 10), marginal (1 < R ≤ 10), and runaway (R ≤ 1), each associated with prescribed electromagnetic control actions, a diagnostic latency constraint, and mandatory termination logic. An analytical microgravity threshold was derived. Recent observations from the Plasma Kristall-4 (PK-4) complex plasma facility aboard the International Space Station (ISS) were shown to be consistent with the predicted emergence of field-aligned filamentary structures and anisotropic nonlinear transport under reduced-gravity conditions. Finally, five quantitative and experimentally falsifiable predictions were formulated to establish a systematic validation pathway for future microgravity plasma experiments. Collectively, the proposed framework provides a rigorous theoretical foundation for the analysis, governance, and engineering design of high-energy-density plasma systems operating in microgravity and establishes a general methodology for the development of next-generation plasma propulsion technologies, advanced confinement architectures, and reaction-boundary control systems in coupled multi-physics environments.
Global development dynamics have a profound influence on food systems, particularly in remote island regions that are highly vulnerable to global market fluctuations and supply chain disruptions due to limited accessibility and dependence on external resources. This study aims to analyze the driving forces and pressures that shape the food system of remote islands. The analysis employs the Drivers Pressures State Impact Responses (DPSIR) framework, focusing on the components of driving forces and pressures. The findings reveal that the driving factors affecting island food systems are shaped by complex interactions among demographic, socio-cultural, economic, political, and biophysical dimensions. Meanwhile, environmental pressures influencing food availability are determined by three key aspects: agricultural systems, food resources, and retail structures. Pressures on local resources arise from unsustainable practices, including the burning of agricultural waste, uncontrolled livestock grazing, and destructive fishing methods such as fish bombing. Furthermore, the heavy dependence on food supplies from outside the island exacerbates the vulnerability of local food systems to logistical disruptions and the impacts of climate change. These findings underscore the urgent need for a fundamental transformation in agricultural practices to ensure the fulfillment of staple food needs while minimizing environmental pressures and enhancing the sustainability of island food systems.
With the advance of live-streaming e-commerce and the metaverse, virtual streamers as a new productive force, are becoming an emerging power in the live-streaming e-commerce industry. The characteristics of virtual streamers and their impact on consumer behavior in live-streaming rooms have gradually attracted academic attention. Although research on virtual streamers is on the rise, there is a lack of integrated synthesis of research findings, especially in the preliminary stage of virtual streamer applications in the e-commerce field. In this light, this paper conducted a holistic review and analysis of the research outcomes related to virtual streamers in the live-streaming e-commerce domain. Firstly, the conceptual connotation and categories of virtual streamers were elucidated. Subsequently, the paper traced back the relevant theories, influencing factors, and research methods concerning virtual streamer characteristics and their impact on consumer behavior. Ultimately, the paper concluded with an outlook for future investigation, in anticipation of promoting advanced application of virtual streamers in e-commerce marketing practices.
For many years, we have been working on a new, sustainable lubricant concept based on mixtures of glycerol, water and performance additives. This is a product family with a growing range of applications. Characteristic features include the fact that these lubricants are free of mineral oil and biocides, are based on renewable raw materials and have a high technological performance. The topic of the use of glycerol in lubricants was recently taken up by Latinović et al. and used for a comprehensive, theoretical consideration concerning circular economy and sustainability transitions. The approach seems very interesting. Nevertheless, a number of discrepancies were identified between the theoretical interpretations and the practical experience with glycerol/water-based lubricants. This commentary makes a contribution to naming inconsistencies and bringing theory and practice closer together by an application-oriented discussion. The topics include the description of the practical procedure in lubricant research and development (R&D), the possibilities of using glycerol in novel lubricants, the control of the release of harmful substances from glycerol-containing lubricants, the attempt to predict application limits of these novel lubricants, the aspects to be considered when calculating costs of these lubricants and the interaction of their market launch and application with regulatory and political requirements.
The rapid growth of religious tourism has intensified the demand for supporting transport infrastructure, particularly an efficient shared parking system integrated with on-site traffic circulation and pedestrian flow management at sacred sites. This study defines the shared parking scheme as the temporal and spatial allocation of a common facility among buses (for organized pilgrim tours) and passenger cars (for individual visitors), managed by the mosque authority across distinct worship-time windows. Three research questions are addressed: (i) whether visitor groups differ in acceptable walking distance to parking; (ii) whether a digital parking guidance system is suitable across age cohorts; and (iii) how vehicle type influences parking capacity planning. A questionnaire survey was administered to 505 respondents at the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Surakarta, Indonesia. The Pearson Chi-Square Test examined associations between categorical variables; where more than 20% of cells had expected frequencies below five, Fisher's Exact Test with Monte Carlo approximation was applied, and Cramer’s V was reported as the effect-size measure. Age was significantly associated with nearly all parking-preference variables ($p <$ 0.01), with the 17–32-year cohort showing higher receptivity to digital parking information systems. Vehicle type exhibited significant associations with five of six preference variables ($p <$ 0.05) and the largest mean Cramer’s V, indicating the most consistent though not causal demographic correlate. Travel purpose was significantly associated with visiting duration ($p$ = 0.007) and acceptable walking distance ($p$ = 0.043). Findings yield four operational recommendations: (i) segregated bus and passenger-car zones with dedicated bus-reservation slots; (ii) tiered short-stay/long-stay zoning aligned with prayer-time peaks; (iii) age-differentiated wayfinding combining digital guidance and on-site human assistance; and (iv) temporary traffic control during peak worship hours.
The widespread adoption of microservices and cloud-native architectures has increased the demand for deployment strategies capable of maintaining service reliability while minimizing the operational risks associated with software releases. Although canary deployment has become a widely adopted progressive delivery strategy, conventional implementations are predominantly dependent on static thresholds, manually defined evaluation criteria, and rule-based rollback mechanisms, thereby limiting their effectiveness in highly dynamic environments. A systematic literature review was therefore conducted following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines to critically examine recent advances in adaptive canary deployments supported by real-time performance analytics. From an initial corpus of 144 retrieved publications, 30 primary studies were selected. A comprehensive taxonomy was developed to classify existing approaches into five major categories: (i) statistical and time-series-based anomaly detection, (ii) machine learning (ML)-based anomaly detection, (iii) optimization-driven deployment strategies, including multi-armed bandits (MABs) and reinforcement learning, (iv) control-theoretic feedback mechanisms, and (v) observability and analytics platforms. The synthesized evidence indicates that current research has progressively shifted toward autonomous decision-making frameworks that integrate predictive anomaly detection and autonomous traffic steering. Nevertheless, several critical research challenges remain unresolved, including the absence of standardized benchmarking protocols, limited interpretability of ML models used for rollback decisions, and inadequate dependency-aware causal inference. These findings demonstrate that future research should prioritize explainable and trustworthy artificial intelligence, dependency-aware performance modeling, standardized evaluation methodologies, and closed-loop self-adaptive deployment frameworks capable of supporting resilient, scalable, and reliable software delivery in cloud-native ecosystems.
Healthcare supply chains face increasing challenges related to counterfeit products, fragmented information flows, limited traceability, and insufficient coordination among distributed stakeholders. Existing centralized and partially decentralized approaches still encounter difficulties in maintaining immutable records, real-time verification, and trusted operational transparency across the pharmaceutical distribution process. This study investigates a distributed medical supply chain framework that improves traceability, compliance control, and operational reliability in healthcare logistics. A blockchain-enabled architecture was developed by integrating dynamic quick response (QR)-based identification, customizable smart contracts, and a hybrid consensus mechanism combining Proof-of-Work (PoW) and Proof-of-Stake (PoS). The framework assigned a unique cryptographic identity to each medicine unit and supported end-to-end verification through blockchain-linked QR validation. Smart contracts were designed to automate ownership transfer, compliance checking, and counterfeit detection throughout the supply chain workflow. The framework was implemented and evaluated in a simulated distributed environment using pharmaceutical transaction scenarios. The experimental results showed that the proposed approach achieved average validation accuracy of approximately 98.1%, maintained transaction throughput between 150 and 320 transactions per second (TPS), and reduced consensus delay through adaptive PoW–PoS coordination. The system also demonstrated strong resistance to forgery attempts and stable operational performance across repeated validation experiments. The results indicate that integrating blockchain governance mechanisms with QR-enabled authentication can improve transparency, trust, and traceability in distributed healthcare supply chains. The proposed framework provides a scalable systems engineering solution for pharmaceutical logistics management and offers a practical foundation for compliance-oriented digital transformation in healthcare supply networks.