Academics have majorly explored the positive and negative economic spillover and linkages effects of FDI on economic growth, local wages, productivity and technological knowledge. Nonetheless, alternative benefits induced by FDI on social development have been neglected to be explored in-depth, constraining scholarly contributions to welfare economics. Although preceding works have studied social development factors, they traditionally have been addressed as either positive, negative or neutral in different pockets of academic literature. Moreover, none of them offers a robust empirical/structural framework linking FDI and social development. Panel data figures of MNEs classified as FDI recipients in the Republic of Panama are employed in proposing an empirical/structural framework explanatory of the bidirectional association and causal mechanisms between FDI and social development, using the Social Progress Index as a proxy, moderated by proxy variables of productive linkages and household income. A lop-sided circle, negatively inclined on the association flowing from social development to FDI, is suggested to exist. A ‘weak’ positive effect of FDI on social development is found, supported by a locked-in stable loop of FDI yearly feeding on MNEs profit’s reinvestments. Social development is also found to be in a locked-in stable loop, directly exerting a ‘strongly negative’ impact on FDI, which suggests being a constraining determinant for the country to attract ‘green field’ FDI. The empirical/structural framework herein proposed aims to guide future academic research in welfare economics and also serve policymakers in Panama for understanding and structuring national policies to unlock the self-reinforcing path dependency mechanisms preventing social development potential from being unleashed.

The pursuit of climate action to meet net-zero targets has triggered the call for a global energy transition from fossil fuels to clean energy sources. However, this global energy transition does not entirely recognise all countries’ social, economic and technological capacities as well as emission contributions as envisaged under the Common but Differentiated Responsibilities (CBDR) principle, which underlies international climate policy. It is concerned more with the outcome of transitioning to clean energy than with justice in the transition process. Recognition justice, an element of energy justice, enables us to identify the inequalities that global energy paradigms (such as the energy transition) can create and how a justice framework can help us understand the implications of energy injustice and address the inequities across energy systems. Recognition justice acknowledges the divergent perspectives rooted in social, economic and racial differences and the varied strengths of developed and developing countries. The energy transition process ought to recognise these differences so that they are reasonably expected to benefit everyone. Implementing the energy transition in the Global South (GS) in the same way as it is being advanced in the Global North will have security, justice, economic, resource-stranding, and sustainable development implications. This issue (of injustice in the energy transition) is aggravated by two dichotomous realities: many countries in the South will be most impacted by climatic changes, yet there remains political and social opposition to climate action through the energy transition. As a solution, this paper relies on the notion of recognition justice with support from the Rawlsian justice concept to argue that a delayed transition represents justice and recognises the peculiar nature and different circumstances of the GS. It identifies that learnings from the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer and the notion of CBDR under international climate treaties can be mainstreamed into energy transition research and policies to achieve justice for countries of the GS. The paper further finds that a delayed transition for the GS will (i) enable the region to address sustainability-related issues of hunger and multidimensional poverty, essential to realising other Sustainable Development Goals, whilst gradually implementing energy transition policies; (ii) present an attractive case against political and social opposition to energy transition in the GS; (iii) advance the goal of CBDR already recognised under international climate treaties and the bifurcated approaches established in such treaties; and, finally, (iv) ensure that developed countries contributing the most to greenhouse gas emissions take the lead now and act while the GS effectuates national contributions sustainably

This thesis explores the role of Development policy as an alternative to the traditional public security focused strategies for tackling organised crime violence in Latin America and the Caribbean. To do so, it builds bridges between the academic literature of criminology and development. It examines the public experiences of insecurity in Mexico and the social impacts of a development initiative, the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) programme in two municipalities in Mexico. The thesis poses questions about the impacts of Development initiatives upon organised crime violence from the perspectives of those living within areas affected by violence. The CCT programmes seek to address poverty in the short and long-term and research has begun to explore the potential of these programmes to diminish violence and crime, almost exclusively from a quantitative research approach, whereas this study adopts a qualitative design. This research is based on data gathered through interviews, observations, and focus groups to examine the perspectives and experiences of current and former CCT recipients, CCT administrators, public security officials, members of the public, NGO leads, and ex-gang affiliated individuals. This micro-level qualitative methodology adopted in this research contrasts the almost exclusively macro-level, econometric evaluations which have dominated CCT and organised crime research. The findings demonstrated that respondents perceived CCTs as significant in reducing the propensity of young men participating in organised crime violence in their localities. The perspectives of participants in this study provided enough evidence to overturn a common narrative of ‘prevention doesn’t work’ and suggest that in each of the areas targeted by the study there is potential for a reduction of organised crime rooted in development initiatives according to respondents.

Bio-energy availability, its potential and production, challenges, and opportunities in Europe are addressed in this chapter. In addition, a comprehensive comparison of different generations of biofuels, types of bioenergy resource availability for various EU countries, and the prediction of the supply rate has been explained. This book chapter helps us understand the progress of consumable bioenergy resources and expected future trends, which is highly important to know. The basis of this chapter is on the agreements in the European energy institutes and related policies. Furthermore, the potential resources of bio-energy in Europe, environmental impacts, and the challenges and barriers that may be faced in the present and future have been investigated.

Introduction: Malignant Melanoma (MM), caused by UV radiation-induced DNA damage, is the most invasive form of skin cancer and has an increasing incidence worldwide. The hallmarks of MM include the presence of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and excessive proliferation of tumour cells. Many treatments are available or under investigation as anticancer therapeutics such as cell therapy, immunotherapy, gene therapy and nanotechnology-based strategies but they all have severe complications and side effects that limit their wider use. Methods: The present in vitro study has evaluated the genotoxic and cytotoxic effects of Se and CBSC-derived exosomes, individually and in combination, on lymphocytes from MM patients and healthy controls, and on the CHL-1 melanoma cell line. The comet assay and cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) assay were used to measure genotoxicity and cytotoxicity, respectively, in all cell types. Molecular mechanisms underlying the observed effects were explored using transcriptional and protein expression profiling of key cell cycle and apoptosis genes, by employing the RT qPCR and Western blotting techniques. Conclusion: Selenium displays antioxidant and genoprotective effects in human lymphocytes, especially in MM patients. Both Se (10 μM) and CBSC-derived exosomes (120 μL) are well tolerated in lymphocytes, but show significant genotoxicity and cytotoxicity towards the CHL-1 cell line, with combined administration exhibiting a synergistic effect.

There is an urgent need to find novel anticancer therapeutics with different mechanisms of action than platinum-containing drugs, particularly for patients who relapse after having been initially treated with a platinum-containing chemotherapy regimen. This chemoresistance phenomena, along with the serious side effects observed with cisplatin, have led research in Medicinal Inorganic Chemistry to using other precious metals for the design of novel anticancer therapeutics. This work reports on the synthesis and characterisation of a series of organometallic drug candidates based on ruthenium, osmium, rhodium, and iridium, followed by investigation of their cancer-inhibiting properties via in vitro and in vivo studies. The cytotoxicity of these complexes against various human cancer cell lines is presented, as well as preliminary studies on their possible modes of action, determined via gene expression studies, cell cycle and apoptosis analysis, reactive oxygen species detection and mitochondrial-membrane potential assays. In addition, to confirm the surprising absence of in vitro toxicity against normal cells exhibited by some compounds, studies on ex vivo/in vitro isolated human lymphocytes from healthy individuals, have been conducted. One lead molecule has been progressed to in vivo studies in mice and toxicity and efficacy were assessed with a series of assays including determination of the maximum tolerated dose and pharmacodynamic studies. Structural modifications of the lead molecule with water-soluble phosphines were subsequently undertaken, with the aim to improve the stability and solubility of the parent 16-electron specie, and evaluations of the biological activity of these novel complexes are presented.

Petroleum discovery has been described as a ‘blessing’ and a ‘curse’ for Nigeria. Whilst oil wealth has been a boon to the economy, oil-companies' unwillingness to be ‘sustainably responsible’ to their resource-host-communities has resulted in multiple problems. This study, focusing on Nigeria's petroleum industry, confirms a framework with genuine potential to favourably impact the industry by validating shared dependency and exploring the relationship between two knowledge areas: corporate governance and sustainability. From the standpoint of resource-host-community ‘risks-and-impacts’, the study's overarching goal is to strengthen the oil-companies'/industry's ability to deliver their businesses on time, within/on budget, and at design capacity. A case study of three oil-companies was used, adopting a qualitative (interpretive) research technique. Study finds that in a turbulent business environment, aligning corporate governance with sustainability and managing oil-companies and their resource-host-community relationships is one attempt to deal with the induced-risks. By analysing the distinction between academic and practitioner research, as well as the tensions from this division, the study shows that a hybrid research merging theoretical and practice-guided study is feasible. The study also contributes to stakeholder theory by offering an empirical description of how resource-host-communities’ impact oil-companies decision-making processes with the potential for collaboration, and to breed and engender trust and unanimity. The findings show that stakeholder theory could be used to solve a variety of organisational problems plaguing the industry. This is the first study in the industry emphasizing the relevance of involving resource-host-communities in Joint-Management-Stakeholder-Committees (JMSCs) concept, demonstrating the influence and practical significance in governance.

This paper explores how using mobile money services affects food security and nutritional status of households in Tanzania. This study uses data obtained from three waves of the Tanzanian National Panel Surveys and the instrumental variable (IV) approach. The evidence from this paper shows that using mobile money services resulted in household's enhanced nutritional and food security status. Households' receipt of remittances is the main pathway in which using mobile money services influences the food security and nutritional outcomes among households in Tanzania.

Methane reforming in the presence of hydrogen sulfide (H2SMR) is not only conspicuous in terms of producing valuable material but also because of its advantages in obtaining hydrogen as a clean fuel. Substitution of traditional hydrogen production processes such as methane steam reforming (MSR), elimination of natural gas amine–based H2S removal, and sulfur recovery processes have attracted much attention. The current hydrogen production is associated with consuming energy that is usually supplied by burning fossil fuels. Thus, producing hydrogen by current high greenhouse gas emitter methods seems not to be a rational approach to benefit from this clean energy source. Additionally, H2SMR with the potential of producing four moles of hydrogen and one mole of CS2 from methane could be a promising alternative as providing the opportunity to benefit from producing cleaner fuels and simultaneously making CS2 that is used for the production of more valuable products. This chapter reviews the recent progress in CS2 production from methane reforming in the presence of H2S and brings the effect of dominant parameters on this process.

The current work’s main aims are to discuss and introduce the main aspects of geothermal wells and reservoirs, including well systems, heating, drilling, and completion. There are several systems and methods for extracting heat energy from underground formations, such as open/closed-looped, vertical/horizontal, pond, and slinky mechanisms, which require different distribution and efficient energy transfer systems. The geothermal well completion method and cementing process are similar to hydrocarbon wells. However, the materials and cement used in geothermal wells must be compatible with hot water and high-pressure-high-temperature (HPHT) steam. Therefore, careful planning for compatible drilling-completion operations with geothermal reservoirs is essential.