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The paper aims to focus on the individual contribution of water to the lubrication regimes in articular joints because understanding of these regimes is crucial not only for the treatment of diseases like osteoarthritis but also for the development of new implants to have a longer service cycle.

Cartilage specimen and the synovial fluid were both isolated from bovine knee joints that are enclosed by a synovial membrane under sterile conditions of a biosafety Level 2 (BSL2) cabinet. Subchondral bone was removed from the cartilage because it not only creates a stable base to place the specimen on the holder, but it also acts as a primary shock absorber protecting the overlaying cartilage under high-impact loads. A specimen holder specially designed for tests and was attached to the linear oscillation (SRV) test machine. The SRV test machine provides a reciprocating sliding motion between the cartilage samples that are submerged into the selected biological media. The entire system can be mounted on the BSL2 cabinet, sealed with the convoluted gaiter and transported to the SRV machine with a specifically designed handle for the entire system. The process ensures sterile conditions for tests on biological samples that are highly sensitive to the environmental conditions.

A remarkably low coefficient of friction value for distilled water constitutes more evidence to support the assumption of the impact of water in the friction behaviour of the cartilage-against-cartilage contact. As the fluid in articular cartilage (AC) effectively serves as a synovial fluid reserve and 70-80 per cent of its composition is distilled water, it can be stated that the tribotest system mimics the natural working conditions of an actual knee joint adequately.

Time and limited availability of the animal-driven samples led to a focus on certain parameters mentioned in the approach. A planned scan of parameter matrix, such as variation of load and speed, would allow deeper knowledge on the lubrication regimes.

Study of relevant tribological contact in human joints might give ideas on new designs for artificial joints.

Understanding of lubrication regimes is crucial not only for the treatment of diseases like osteoarthritis but also for the development of new implants to adapt motion of related joint.

Exclusion of water and application as the primary lubricant in the test system brings a new perspective to joint lubrication.

Seeks to answer the question “whose interests are being served by the laws of purporting to regulate genetically modified organisms?“ Considers the interests of the seed/chemical multinational companies, trade and investment for the countries in which these companies operate and the innovation of science and technology. Covers the European interests with regards to the single internal market and the conflict this can cause between economic and environmental/health interests. Looks at the issues from the US perspective and world trade. Continues by covering nature and the environment followed by health and safety and the rights of consumers. Assesses the regulations of the European community in order to find what protection is available.

The authors aim to draw lessons for research and policy from an exception(nal) case of a firm's international expansion in the seed market: Grupo Don Mario, a company originally from Argentina that supplies 20% of the soybean varieties used in the world. The authors describe the processes of expansion of the company, identify key features of its internationalisation, marketing and technological strategy and capabilities, and discuss implications for research and policy and questions for future research.

This is a case study. The paper uses quantitative and qualitative information collected from existing datasets and documents and new information from open ended interviews. This study method is exploratory.

First, new entrants from emerging economies should and can adopt an unique technological and marketing approach that distinguish them from incumbents to be able to overcome entry barriers in global concentrated markets. Second, technological capacities need to be complemented with regulatory and political to succeed in highly dynamic, uncertain and regulated sectors like seeds.

Policies oriented to support business from emerging countries in highly dynamic sectors need to consider technological alternatives.

Grupo Don Mario is a case of great interest since it expanded in a period in which the global seed market concentrated massively through an unprecedented process of mergers and acquisitions, which involved the disappearance of hundreds of independent seed companies.

The purpose of writing this paper is to present a comparative but critical assessment of the applicability of the precautionary principle (PP) under the SPS Agreement, which is a part of the WTO regime by implication, and under the Cartagena Protocol, which has been made under the Convention on Biological Diversity.

The paper presents an analytical exposition of both the sets of laws, trade law and environmental law. The methodology adopted is library based. The approach is to bring about an amicable co-existence of both the laws so that they could serve the dual purpose, i.e. promotion of trade and protection of “human, animal and plant life and health” and conservation of the environment.

The DSB of the WTO should give due importance to the PP and should apply it liberally, keeping also in view the environmental aspects, so that along with free trade human, animal and plant health and life, and conservation of the environment are also protected.

It will change the present paradigm and will bring both the sets of laws together.

It focuses on the life and heath of poor people around the world. It, thus, pleads for application of strong PP.

Technology foresight or technology futures analysis is increasingly being recognised as a tool for planning sustainable development. Similarly, as argued by many, biotechnology could be harnessed for sustainable development. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to map out foresight activities in the Indian biotechnology innovation system.

The present paper has adopted a systemic approach to analyse the foresight activities in the Indian biotechnology sector. An online Delphi survey, including interviews, was conducted for 750 biotech units.

The greatest need of foresight is felt in the biopharma sector, especially in the small- and medium-sized firms. The methodologies used are only pre-foresight in nature and for short-term time horizons. The output preferred is “setting the R&D planning and priorities”. “Assessing socioeconomic and environment impact” is not accorded a high priority. Most of the regulatory agencies do not carry out foresight exercises.

The research holds significance for evolving sustainable development policy.

The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic changed the way in which education was delivered in early 2020, and the impacts of these changes continue to be questionable. The aims of this study were to evaluate: (1) the results obtained by students of the Dentistry course in the progress test carried out both before and after the pandemic, (2) the results obtained by a specific group of students who took the test in 2019–2022, and compare their results and (3) subjects that showed a reduction in the percentage of correct answers when the two tests were compared.

The progress test consisting of 100 multiple choice questions was applied before and after the pandemic to all students in the Dentistry course. The analyses were performed using the IBM SPSS for Statistics v.26 software program. The level of significance of 5% was adopted (<0.05).

The test was applied to 320 students in 2019 and to 272 in 2022, of whom the sample of this study was composed. The mean score values in 2019 (M = 49.10; SD = 12.03) were significantly (p = 0.026) higher than those in the year 2022 (M = 46.97; SD = 12.15), with the disciplines in the area of specific knowledge showing a greater drop in the percentage of correct answers by students. This study showed that the emergency remote education had a negative effect on the academic performance of students, based on the progress testing as an evaluation method.

Many studies that assessed the impacts of the pandemic on teaching were focused on the opinions of students. However, the great advantage of our study was the use of a theoretical assessment tool to verify student performance. The post-pandemic landscape beckons for comprehensive inquiries into these domains. This type of research would be valuable for gathering evidence relative to the performance of students after the emergency remote education.

Purpose – The globally controversial genetically modified (GM) cotton has been adopted widely by Indian farmers. Claiming the adoption to be a success of the GM technology, the GM proponents call for a large-scale introduction of GM crops in Indian agriculture. Opposition to GM crops is largely constructed in terms of the environmental risks that GM technologies pose to crop and forest biodiversity. This chapter examines the economic and political context in which these seeds were adopted to see if adequate support mechanisms were available to farmers to facilitate adoption of the new technology.

Design/methodology/approach – A field study was conducted in Vidharbha, Eastern Maharashtra. In addition, government reports and newspaper articles were reviewed and interviews were conducted in Maharashtra and Delhi.

Findings – This chapetr finds that the problems faced by farmers are much deeper than what technology can solve or which have been addressed in the GM debate. Cotton farmers face persistent problems in the agricultural production process that increase their production costs. A spate of farmer's suicides in Vidharbha and other rain-fed regions of India epitomizes the dire conditions farmers are in. This chapter asserts that state-supported policies transformed India from a food importing to a food surplus country in the 1960s during the green revolution. However, GM cotton has been introduced without a supportive infrastructure for technology transfer in Maharashtra and most cotton-growing states. The lack of support makes the gain of cotton farmers in Vidharbha from the new technology highly uncertain.

Originality/value – This analysis shows the need to examine the role of government programs in helping farmers implement technological advances in agriculture.

During the last few years there has been an increase of interest in work-based learning (WBL), which can be understood as a process of both developing workplace skills and promoting labor force productivity. This paper aims to map the scientific landscape related to WBL research worldwide.

combined bibliometrics and network analysis techniques to analyze data of scientific publications related to WBL indexed at the Web of Science (WoS) Core Collection.

results show an increase of publications over time: Education & Educational Research as the most frequent research area to which the articles were assigned, the UK and Australia as the main countries and Monash University (Australia) and Middlesex University (England) as the main organizations producing knowledge on WBL.

By offering a global scientific landscape of WBL research published so far, the authors aimed to contribute to future academic debates and studies in this field of knowledge.

This paper includes regional, behavioral and biological issues of men that lead them to high mortality rate in Pakistan. The study was design to factories the major cause of gender inequality of infection. This study focused on regional, behavioral and biological issues of men that lead to high mortality rate.

The statistical datum was collected from the official fact finding documents of Government of Pakistan to analyze the gender-based infection rate and mortality count. It was found that among the population of men in Pakistan, the mortality rate is very high.

The epidemiological studies are more threatening because mostly the population which is under real panic comprises older men.

The author declares that all the data was collected from the most authentic source and applied according to their background and biological, behavioral and logical knowledge.