Search Results (156)

The European crafts ecosystem faces critical structural threats, declining practitioner numbers, weakening intergenerational transmission, limited digital literacy, and competition from industrial imitation. Existing online craft communities are narrowly material-specific and structurally ill-suited to the cross-disciplinary dialogue required for systemic sector transformation. This paper presents the design, iterative development, and pilot evaluation of the Craeft Community, a multi-stakeholder Virtual Community of Practice (VCoP) developed within the Horizon Europe CRAEFT project. Three research questions guided the study: how a multi-stakeholder VCoP should be structured to overcome disciplinary fragmentation; to what extent a stewarded digital forum can operationalize Situated Learning and Communities of Practice theory; and what factors facilitate or inhibit engagement and post-funding sustainability. Using design-based research, the platform evolved through four iterative phases, culminating in restructuring from a material-based architecture into five transversal thematic pillars, driven by survey evidence from 151 European craft professionals and systematic stakeholder feedback. The pilot phase yielded 86 registered members, 31 posts, and 27 interactions, with Transmission & Training as the most engaged pillar. Qualitative analysis reveals substantive cross-disciplinary discourse alongside a structural Effort-Engagement Gap, a persistent tension between forum participation demands and the gravitational pull of mainstream social media. The study demonstrates that a thematically organized, stewarded VCoP can meaningfully operationalize apprenticeship-based learning in digital settings, advancing craft heritage preservation, economic resilience, and hybrid professional identity formation at the intersection of craft and technology. Full article

Frontier large language models achieve broad linguistic competence but degrade on specialist domains underrepresented in pre-training corpora. Domain-adaptive post-training (DAPT) on curated professional text partially closes this gap, yet the dominant approach flattens structured discourse into isolated document units, discarding the collaborative reasoning embedded in multi-party exchanges. This paper investigates whether preserving the full recursive structure of user forum threads during post-training is a more effective first step toward knowledge extraction than flattened question-answer pairs. Four open-source decoder-only models (TinyLlama 1.1B, Phi-2 2.7B, LLaMA-2-7B 6.8B, LLaMA-2-13B 13B) are post-trained using parameter-efficient LoRA adaptation on 4970 threads from AgTalk, an agricultural producer forum, under three conditions: flattened Q → A pairs, full recursive threads preserving reply order, and shuffled recursive threads with randomly permuted intermediate replies. Five hypotheses are tested through paired Wilcoxon signed-rank comparisons across 29 thread positions. DAPT significantly reduces perplexity relative to pretrained baselines across all architectures (H0 supported). Recursive training reduces perplexity relative to flattened training, an advantage clearest for the two LLaMA-2 models under matched-context evaluation (Wilcoxon win rates near 72%) and present but obscured by outlier variance at the 1.1B and 2.7B scales (H₁ supported). However, ordered recursive training provides only a marginal advantage over shuffled (H₂ inconclusive), attention analysis reveals identical U-shaped endpoint-weighted profiles regardless of training condition (H₃: architectural not learned), and perplexity shows no systematic decrease with accumulating thread depth (H₄ not supported). These results are attributed to Rotary Position Embedding constraints in decoder-only architectures that systematically underweight middle-thread content. Encoder–decoder architectures with bidirectional cross-attention are identified as a promising next step for exploiting the full collaborative structure of forum discourse. Full article

Background: Research on nursing interventions for breast cancer patients undergoing radiotherapy is increasing. However, comprehensive mapping and synthesis regarding the field’s overall knowledge structure and development remain limited. This study aims to utilize bibliometric methods to analyze the current status, research hotspots, and emerging trends in this field. Methods: We conducted a bibliometric analysis of 256 publications from the Web of Science Core Collection and PubMed. Results: Publication volume showed a notable increase after 2020 (16–25 articles per year). The United States leads in output (82 articles, 32.0%), followed by China (25 articles). At the institutional level, the University of California, San Francisco (10 articles) is the most productive, while George Washington University leads in total citations (1759). Oncology Nursing Forum is the leading journal both in publication volume (20 articles) and h-index (13). Twelve major research clusters were identified, primarily focusing on symptom management (specifically pain) and psychosocial support. Keyword burst analysis suggests that current frontiers have shifted from acute symptom control toward systematic management approaches and psychological symptom interventions. Conclusions: Based on the analysis of 256 publications and 12 research clusters, this study indicates that the focus of nursing research appears to be expanding from acute symptom control toward comprehensive case management and targeted psychological research. These findings may provide useful directions for future research and clinical practice, particularly regarding the integration of psychosocial care into nursing management. Full article

The 1st International Online Conference on Biology (IOCBI 2026), held from 10 to 12 February 2026, brought together researchers from around the world to share and discuss recent advances across a wide spectrum of biological disciplines. Organized under the auspices of the journal Biology (MDPI), the conference provided an open, interactive forum for scientific exchange in a fully online, accessible format. The scientific program encompassed key areas of contemporary biology, including evolutionary biology, ecology, conservation biology, infection biology, zoology, marine biology, and plant sciences. Through keynote lectures, invited talks, oral communications, and flash presentations, the conference highlighted both fundamental questions and emerging challenges that define current biological research. Beyond the diversity of topics, IOCBI 2026 underscored the increasing need for integrative approaches in biology. The contributions collected in this volume reflect a shared effort to connect processes across different levels of biological organization—from molecular systems to ecosystems—revealing life as a complex and evolving network of interactions. This perspective is essential not only for advancing fundamental knowledge but also for addressing pressing global challenges in health, biodiversity, and environmental change. All accepted abstracts included in this volume of Biology and Life Sciences Forum provide a citable record of the work presented at the conference and illustrate current trends and future directions in the biological sciences. We sincerely thank all authors, speakers, reviewers, and organizers for their valuable contributions, which made IOCBI 2026 a successful and stimulating scientific event. Full article

The transition toward a digital and knowledge-based economy has fundamentally transformed the drivers of labor productivity, raising important questions about its sustainability, inclusiveness, and long-term resilience. In this context, understanding the role of future-oriented competencies becomes essential for both economic performance and sustainable development. The aim of this article is to examine the relationship between selected indicators of digitalization and human capital and labor productivity, with particular reference to future-oriented competencies in the context of ongoing labor market transformation. The study relies on secondary analysis of data and reports published by international organizations and research institutions, particularly the World Economic Forum (WEF), the International Labour Organization (ILO), and the OECD. The research combines content analysis, comparative analysis, and selected statistical methods, including correlation and regression techniques, supported by data triangulation. The results suggest that future-oriented competencies, especially digital, cognitive, and social skills, are strongly associated with higher levels of labor productivity. At the same time, productivity growth increasingly depends on the effective integration of technological advancement with human capabilities, which is critical for building resilient and inclusive economies. The study emphasizes the need to invest in competency development, encourage innovation-driven organizational cultures, and implement flexible work arrangements that support sustainable productivity, digital inclusion, and employee well-being. The development of future-oriented competencies may also help reduce structural inequalities and improve the adaptability of labor markets. In addition, the study contributes to the existing literature by linking labor productivity with future competencies within the broader context of digital transformation and sustainable development. Full article

The International Conference on Plant Biodiversity and Sustainability is a global forum dedicated to advancing scientific knowledge and collaborative action in plant diversity, conservation, and sustainable development. Bringing together established and early-career researchers as well as students from diverse fields, the conference underscores the urgent need to protect plant resources and foster sustainable solutions. By promoting an open, interdisciplinary environment, the event encourages dialogue among botanists, ecologists, agronomists, biotechnologists, chemists, and related experts, integrating multiple perspectives to address biodiversity challenges comprehensively, especially in the field of medicinal and aromatic plants. Aligned with the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the conference covers a wide range of topics, including habitat conservation, ecological restoration, ethnobotany, climate change adaptation, sustainable agriculture, technological and biotechnological innovation, and science-based policy approaches. The scientific program features keynote lectures by internationally recognized experts, thematic oral sessions, hands-on workshops, and collaborative roundtables designed to stimulate discussion and knowledge exchange. Participants present cutting-edge research, innovative methodologies, and case studies highlighting both theoretical advances and practical applications. Panel discussions and networking opportunities further support new partnerships, joint research efforts, and capacity-building initiatives, strengthening the global community committed to biodiversity protection. Beyond sharing scientific results, the conference emphasizes the importance of connecting research with policy and real-world practice. Contributions therefore address decision-making frameworks, community engagement, nature-based solutions, and the use of emerging technologies for monitoring and managing plant ecosystems. This multidimensional approach ensures that the event not only showcases academic excellence but also contributes to concrete strategies that inform governance, education, and sustainable land-use planning, with a particular focus on plant resources. Full article

This study aims to identify and synthesize the major global trends that shaped 2025 by applying the DeflyCompass methodology to a curated corpus of strategic foresight reports. The study synthesizes insights from 23 strategic reports published by leading international organizations, including the World Economic Forum, Accenture, Euromonitor, and major technology firms. Methodologically, DeflyCompass operationalizes a structured hybrid human–AI pipeline comprising the deployment of multi-agent AI systems, automated knowledge graph construction, semantic clustering, and hybrid human–AI validation processes, reducing an initial set of 816 preliminary signals to a validated catalog of 50 high-priority trends across six PESTEL domains: Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental, and Legal/Governance. Key findings indicate that artificial intelligence functions as a systemic enabling technology across all domains, climate and sustainability imperatives permeate multiple domains, geopolitical fragmentation introduces systemic tension, and trust deficits emerge as a critical vulnerability. The study contributes a replicable and scalable framework for global-level strategic foresight that operationalizes human–AI integration within a rigorous expert-driven validation process, complementing existing hybrid analytical approaches in the literature. Implications extend to decision-making in technology governance, sustainability strategy, social adaptation, and scenario planning, highlighting the necessity of integrating AI augmentation with human expertise for effective future-oriented planning. Full article

Utilizing an integrated knowledge translation framework (iKT), the purpose of this study was to identify best practices for long-term care (LTC) staffing in British Columbia, Canada, based on learnings from the COVID-19 pandemic. Through multiple data sources, including an electronic survey provided to LTC operators and knowledge-generation forums held with LTC community members, four staffing recommendations were created. Our major findings emphasize how the pandemic exposed and further exacerbated LTC workforce shortcomings and provide rich, contextual information to help create efficacious and practical outcomes and enhance public health. Our recommendations include conducting contingency planning for potential crises, increasing the use of volunteers, implementing recruitment and retention strategies for the LTC workforce, and standardizing evaluations of staffing adequacy and resident outcomes. These investments can serve to strengthen LTC currently and to protect against potential future health crises. This project highlights how lived experience can be utilized to address health inequities and bolster public health outcomes. Full article

The rapid growth of online learning platforms has intensified the need for privacy-aware methods that can analyze learner behavior without centralizing sensitive activity logs. This study presents a Federated Learning-Based Graph Representation Learning (FL-GRL) framework for online student performance analysis in distributed learning environments. Each learner is represented through a local Student Learning Knowledge Graph (SLKG) that captures typed interactions with courses, lessons, webinars, challenges, and forum activities. Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) are used to derive relation-aware embeddings from these local graphs, while federated learning supports collaborative model optimization without sharing raw data. A federated clustering stage is then used to identify soft learner groups with partially overlapping behavioral patterns that may support exploratory personalization and confidence-aware educational follow-up. The current experiments focus on the feasibility of privacy-aware graph-based analysis rather than on a complete supervised prediction benchmark. Results across the evaluated graph-based variants indicate that the proposed framework is operationally viable, preserves relational structure better than flat-feature formulations, and provides an interpretable basis for learner-group discovery in privacy-sensitive online education settings. Full article

Despite strong evidence linking nutritional status to treatment efficacy and survival in pediatric cancer, significant knowledge gaps and practice variation persist globally. On 24th October 2025, the International Society of Paediatric Oncology (SIOP) Nutrition Network, in collaboration with Prinsess Máxima Center for Paediatric Oncology and the International Initiative for Pediatrics and Nutrition (IIPAN), convened the first global SIOP Nutrition Network Research Forum. The forum brought together 54 international experts from high-income countries and low- and middle-income countries to define global nutrition research strategies for pediatric oncology. The forum addressed six emerging domains: body composition and treatment outcomes; microbiome, micronutrient status and metabolic health; prehabilitation and rehabilitation strategies; validation of nutritional assessment tools, guideline development for high-income settings; insights from international multicentric research initiatives—the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), SIOP Nutrition Network, the Adapted Resource and Implementation Application (ARIA) guide nutrition portal, the International Collaboration on Nutrition in Cancer (ICONIC) WHO knowledge portal; and IIPAN and the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) for funding strategies. Delegates identified three priority working groups, namely prehabilitation optimization, pharmacokinetics, and advocacy, with each outlining collaborative nutrition research priorities for the next five years. This forum represents a critical point in pediatric oncology nutrition research as it established the first coordinated and internationally endorsed roadmap to bridge gaps in cancer care and ensure standard nutrition care worldwide. The research priorities and collaborations will help in creating evidence to improve cancer treatment and survival rate for children globally. Full article

To advance our understanding of atmospheric processes and climate dynamics, improved knowledge of outgoing long-wave radiation (OLR) spectral emission is essential. The FORUM mission, selected for the ninth cycle of the European Space Agency’s Earth Explorer programme, is specifically designed to address the long-standing observational gap in the far-infrared (FIR) spectral region. When combined with measurements from the IASI-NG instrument, FORUM will provide complete spectral coverage of Earth’s OLR emission (spanning 100 to 2760 cm⁻¹ wavenumber, or 3.62 to 100 μm wavelength), thereby enabling robust climate model validation and enhanced understanding of climate change processes. While IASI-NG’s primary mission is to support numerical weather prediction, FORUM is designed to measure key climate variables, which also enable the retrieval of atmospheric parameters in the troposphere and lower stratosphere. In this study, we assess the information content of FORUM and IASI-NG measurements for atmospheric profiling through a simulation-based approach. Synthetic retrieval products are generated using a linearized formulation of the retrieval transfer function, allowing an efficient and physically consistent evaluation of the sensitivity of the two instruments to atmospheric temperature and water vapor profiles. The analysis reveals a non-negligible sensitivity of FORUM to atmospheric temperature extending into the stratosphere, resulting in significant information content at altitudes higher than previously reported. This finding highlights the potential of far-infrared observations to contribute to atmospheric temperature profiling beyond the lower troposphere. The complementary capabilities of FORUM and IASI-NG suggest that their combined use can enhance the characterization of the atmospheric thermal structure. These results represent a first step toward evaluating the potential role of FORUM Level-2 products in future numerical weather prediction applications. Full article

This study investigates how online discussion forums in an undergraduate Social Responsibility course support students’ SDG-oriented idea generation and collaborative knowledge construction. It also examines how participation roles, behavioral intensity, interaction-network influence, and goal-aligned discourse shape idea visibility and discussion. Using a mixed-methods learning analytics design, we analyzed forum logs and message texts across five SDG-linked themes (SDGs 6, 7, 12, 14, 15) by classifying contributor types, computing a Behavioral Participation Index (BPI), constructing a directed reply network and estimating PageRank centrality, extracting solution proposals, scoring semantic goal alignment, modelling weekly temporal dynamics, and fitting multivariate regressions predicting visibility (reads) and engagement (replies) while controlling for theme, message level, time, PageRank, and BPI. Results show role-differentiated participation (N = 514), meaningful cross-theme solution proposals that varied across academic groups, and peak-driven weekly activity. PageRank centrality emerged as the strongest and most consistent predictor of both visibility and engagement, whereas goal alignment showed weaker direct effects after controls, suggesting that SDG-aligned ideas do not necessarily diffuse without structural embeddedness. Among highly goal-aligned posts, specific communicative features differentiated which proposals attracted attention and interaction. These findings suggest that SDG forum design benefits from structured interaction pathways and scaffolded discourse strategies to support equitable diffusion and productive sustainability dialogue. The study does not evaluate the normative quality of sustainability positions but examines how interaction structures and discourse features shape the visibility and diffusion of student-generated ideas. Full article

Substantial research has been dedicated to the study of transnational students’ language, education, and identity development in order to cultivate their funds of knowledge and to improve their schooling experiences. However, as this Special Issue points out, a more holistic and transdisciplinary approach is needed. The present paper does just this, zooming in on teacher education programs designed to prepare teachers to work with transnational students using transdisciplinary arts-based approaches, and in particular, Augusto Boal’s Forum Theater. Employing collective autoethnography and building on a larger research study that explores participant reflections on experiences engaging in Forum Theater, we reconsider three scenarios from arts-based workshops conducted with transnational learners and preservice/inservice teachers (aka teacher learners). In doing so, we deconstruct exactly how the exploration and brainstorming of effective responses to transnational youth experiences of discrimination, stereotyping, and racism in the Forum Theater workshops are harnessed to help participants understand the psychological, cognitive, and behavioral factors at play that impact transnational youth language, education, and identity development. Findings show how each scenario could lead to greater understanding of transnational youth experiences, and the development of teacher learners’ critical consciousness in working with these students. Full article

This paper addresses the knowledge gap on the beginning of the history of contact with extraterrestrial intelligent beings in international astronautics. In the mid-1950s, the world’s space law practitioner, Andrew G. Haley, proposed the concept of Metalaw, the law governing interactions between all beings in the Universe, as he represented the American Rocket Society in the International Astronautical Congress, the single largest gathering of space-faring nations. Haley, with experience in radio communications law dating back to the 1930s, played a pivotal role in pushing for the international allocation of radio frequencies in space. Haley was, too, an agile mediator with the Soviet Union and its bloc, acting across various organizations and forums. This article, in contextualizing Haley’s introduction of Metalaw, shows how the onset of the Space Age coincided with the emergence of a contact scenario involving extraterrestrial intelligence enabled by the corresponding techno-scientific capabilities of the time. It demonstrates how extraterrestrial intelligence discursively addressed outer space regulation as a bone of contention between the two geopolitically divided parts, a regulation upon which the US’s global satellite system would depend. The analysis in this article recounts the birth of the Metalaw concept at the intersection of outer space imaginary, law, international organizations, science and technology, diplomacy, the Space Race, the Cold War, and radio astronomy’s Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. Full article

Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems typically inherit biases from their training data, leading to discriminatory outcomes that undermine equity and inclusion. This issue is particularly significant when popular Generative AI (GAI) applications are used in educational contexts. To respond to this challenge, the study evaluates the effectiveness of dialogic reflection-based training for educators in identifying and mitigating biases in AI. Furthermore, it considers how these sessions contribute to the advancement of algorithmic justice and inclusive practices. A key component of the proposed training methodology involved equipping educators with the skills to design inclusive prompts—specific instructions or queries aimed at minimizing bias in AI outputs. This approach not only raised awareness of algorithmic inequities but also provided practical strategies for educators to actively contribute to fairer AI systems. A qualitative analysis of the course’s Moodle forum interactions was conducted with 102 university professors and graduate students from diverse regions of the Dominican Republic. Participants engaged in interactive activities, debates, and practical exercises addressing AI bias, algorithmic justice, and ethical implications. Responses were analyzed using Atlas.ti across five categories: participation quality, bias identification strategies, ethical responsibility, social impact, and equity proposals. The training methodology emphasized collaborative learning through real case analyses and the co-construction of knowledge. The study contributes a hypothesis-driven model linking dialogic reflection, bias awareness, and inclusive teaching, offering a replicable framework for ethical AI integration in higher education. Full article