Search Results (466)

Background: Respectful maternity care (RMC) prioritizes dignity, privacy, and autonomy during childbirth. In low-resource primary health centers (PHCs), the lack of delivery gown availability compromises these aspects, leading to discomfort and reduced patient satisfaction in PHCs. This study on Maathru Samman Pants (MSPs), a culturally sensitive garment designed with functional flaps, aims to enhance privacy, comfort, and dignity during labor, as well as assess the satisfaction, acceptability, and demand for MSPs among pregnant women and their birth companions in PHC settings across four Indian regions. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted across eight PHCs in North, South, East, and West India. A total of 80 pregnant women and 60 birth companions participated. Data were collected through structured questionnaires and in-depth interviews. The quantitative data covered satisfaction, acceptability, and demand using Likert scales, yes/no, and open-ended formats. The qualitative data were analyzed thematically. Results: Most PW (pregnant women) were aged 21–30 years, mainly Hindu, 34 (42.5%), or Christian, 27 (33.75%), with 71.25% homemakers. PW highly rated MSPs for covering the body, preventing cold, comfort, and ease of use. They felt cared for and respected, with a mean ± SD of 4.47 ± 0.57, and agreed that MSPs maintained privacy and cultural norms. Demand was strong, with 76 (95%) supporting the introduction of MSPs and 74 (92.5%) willing to use them again. Most PW, 66 (82.5%), and BCs (birth companions), 49 (81.67%), accepted MSPs positively, with a few reporting discomfort or changes. Conclusions: MSPs demonstrated high satisfaction, strong acceptability, and future demand among PW. This study addresses key gaps in respectful maternity care at the PHC level by enhancing privacy, preserving cultural norms, and improving comfort. Integrating MSPs into maternal health protocols could significantly improve birthing experiences in resource-limited settings. Full article

Beginning in the mid-sixteenth century, Europeans entered East Asia and introduced Catholicism as new maritime routes were opened and global interconnections deepened. Through practice, missionaries gradually developed a strategy of cultural accommodation, seeking converts by integrating into East Asian cultures. Although the cultural traditions of China, Japan, and Korea were broadly similar, there were differences among them, and the process of Catholic accommodation in each country reflected both shared commonalities and distinct particularities. The accommodation strategy initially led to considerable success; however, Catholic activities later posed a challenge to the traditional cultural and social orders of the three countries, and their rulers eventually adopted policies of religious prohibition to varying degrees. By the early nineteenth century, Catholicism had been banned across all three polities. Therefore, the cultural encounter between East and West on the eve of the modern era ended in intense conflict—yet Catholicism never disappeared from East Asia. Rather, it found a foothold in popular society by merging with the “little tradition.” In identifying this accommodation paradox, the article offers the wider study of religion a model of how a foreign faith interacts with an entrenched host tradition, demonstrating that the effectiveness of accommodation may itself generate the conditions of its subsequent prohibition. Full article

West Nile virus (WNV) is a globally distributed mosquito-borne flavivirus with significant implications for both veterinary and public health. While horses are incidental dead-end hosts, their epidemiological role extends beyond clinical disease, as they can serve as effective sentinel hosts for detecting local viral circulation. Their frequent exposure to mosquito vectors, ability to mount measurable antibody responses, geographic stability, accessibility for monitoring, and the possibility of observation within managed owner–veterinarian systems make them particularly suitable for surveillance within a One Health framework. Evidence from Europe and the Americas demonstrates that equine seroprevalence and field surveillance can identify transmission hotspots, reveal silent circulation, and contribute to the understanding of spatial and temporal risk patterns. The review also addresses key limitations, including vaccination effects, flavivirus cross-reactivity, methodological heterogeneity, and challenges in interpreting serological data across different ecological contexts. Strengthening equine sentinel surveillance through standardized methodologies and integration with predictive and geospatial approaches may improve early warning capacity and support more effective control of WNV and other emerging arboviral diseases. Full article

This study assesses the effects of upper-level configuration on heavy rain episodes over the Levant. The dynamic upper-level forcings are attributed to ageostrophic effects. One is related to meandering jet ahead of troughs and the second to acceleration near both ends of straight jets. We collected 23 rainy episodes contained in four rainy months. The rain analysis was done on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean, and the synoptic analysis covers the domain 15–45° N, 12–45° E. The data were retrieved from ERA5 reanalysis, with 0.25° × 0.25° resolution. A subjective analysis revealed that the rain episodes are associated with three configurations, the two aforementioned and an additional, under upper trough, without upper-level divergence. In fourteen cases, the region was found ahead of trough and in only one at the end of a straight jet. In the remaining eight cases, upper trough was located over the region, implying an absence of upper-level support for rain formation. These configurations are exemplified by case studies and by composite maps. Most rain events occurred when an upper trough dominated the Levant, situated upstream (west) of a surface Cyprus Low (CL), with both contributing to rain formation. The CL persisted in the cases of the third type, in spite of an absence of upper-level support, due to surface-induced cyclogenesis. The two most frequent configurations are apparently similar but differ in the rain-producing factors. The one for the “ahead of” is upper-level dynamic, and for the “under trough”—lower level dynamic and enhanced static instability. Full article

Intensive human activities are reshaping inland tail-end deltas. Based on hydrological and sediment data from 1950 to 2023 and physical model experiments, this study examines the Ganjiang tail-end delta to analyze channel evolution, driving mechanisms, and management pathways. Results indicate that the Wan’an Reservoir and large-scale sand mining are the dominant drivers of flow-sediment regime shifts and channel reshaping. Sand mining has caused severe riverbed incision, with a local maximum depth of 16.5 m. During the dry season, the flow diversion ratio of the West Branch exceeds 90%, fundamentally altering the flow distribution pattern. Although riverbed incision has enhanced local flood conveyance, the overall flood discharge capacity of the tail-end delta remains limited due to backwater from Poyang Lake, introducing new flood risks. Reduced sediment supply and hydrological changes have exacerbated wetland shrinkage and eutrophication. Physical model experiments show that the comprehensive regulation project can raise dry-season water levels by approximately 5 m through sluice operation, optimize flow diversion, and increase wetland surface water area by 56%. This project integrates flood control, ecological protection, and water resource utilization, representing a proactive exploration of adaptive management for deltas and providing scientific references for understanding evolution and guiding management in similar inland tail-end deltas. Full article

Alcohol use has been linked to sexual risk-taking behaviour, particularly among young people in Australia, who are also substantially represented in sexually transmissible infection (STI). While research on alcohol use and sexual risk-taking among university students in Australia exists, no studies outside recent Tertiary Students Sexual and Reproductive Health Survey (TSSHS) publications have distinguished between Australian-born and overseas-born domestic students, despite evidence that migrant populations may show different alcohol use and sexual behaviour patterns. Using data from the TSSHS and a cross-sectional anonymous online survey of university-enrolled students, this study is the first to compare sexually active Australian-born domestic, overseas-born domestic, and international students on alcohol use and sexual risk-taking. Findings align with past research, with Australian-born domestic students being more likely to consume alcohol at high-risk levels than international and overseas-born domestic students. Differences in sexual risk-taking behaviours between the three enrolment groups were fully mediated by harmful alcohol use, indicating an indirect effect between group membership and sexual risk-taking. Age moderated this mediation, with the association between harmful drinking and sexual risk-taking strongest among students aged 20–24, compared with younger and older groups. Full article

Major earthquakes often induce multi-structural rupture styles, which serve as a crucial basis for understanding stress partitioning and strain adjustment within tectonic systems, as well as for constructing regional deformation models. The 1927 M 8.0 Gulang earthquake in the northeastern Tibetan Plateau exemplifies this phenomenon. This rare event, characterized by a single mainshock triggering multiple structural ruptures, resulted in approximately 40,000 casualties and numerous missing persons. In this study, we integrate interpretations of satellite remote sensing imagery, field observations of surface ruptures, and analyses of regional tectonic–geomorphic deformations to reconstruct the coseismic processes of the Gulang earthquake. Our findings reveal that the coseismic surface ruptures exhibit distinct mechanical characteristics driven by complex stress fields. Survey and analysis results indicate that regional tectonic compression oriented from SSW–SW to NNE–NE triggered the mainshock rupture. This stress regime caused nearly E–W folding of strata north of the Huangcheng–Shuangta Fault (HSF), alongside sinistral strike-slip motion in the central-eastern section and thrusting at the eastern end of the Southern Wuwei Basin Fault (SWBF). Blocked by the rigid Alxa Block to the north, comprehensive evidence—including the Late Holocene gravelly clay folded strata formed by north-to-south compression in the Liutiao Lake area, the geomorphic deformation characterized by higher northern and lower southern terraces on both sides of the east–west-trending fault, and the clockwise rotational tectonic surfaces developed at the eastern end of the HSF zone in Shuixiakou—indicates that the coseismic tectonic movement and energy transfer within the meizoseismal area underwent a rapid clockwise rotation from NE to S. This strain rotation induced N–S tensional rupturing along the southern branch of the eastern HSF and nearly E–W thrusting along the NNW-trending Wuwei–Gulang Fault (WGF). Furthermore, this intense and rapid clockwise rotation generated a transient extensional environment characterized by rapid E–W to SE stretching, leading to the formation of a newly identified, NNE-trending, high-angle dextral strike-slip normal fault (hereafter referred to as the NNEF). This process also triggered localized activity at the junctions between the NNEF and the Lenglongling Fault (LLLF), and between the WGF and the nearly E–W-trending Gulang Fault (GLF). We conclude that the seismogenic structure of the 1927 Gulang mainshock comprises three primary components: (1) a fault–fold belt consisting of the SWBF and the nearly E–W fold system north of the HSF; (2) the southern branch of the eastern HSF; and (3) the WGF. The observed segmental activities of the GLF and LLLF are attributed to local strain adjustments. By identifying the newly formed NNEF and characterizing these segmental activations, this study provides new insights into the mechanisms of local strain adjustment within the tectonic systems of the northeastern Tibetan Plateau. Full article

We examine a simple duration-rotation strategy applied to six U.S. Treasury ETFs spanning the full maturity spectrum, using data from 2007 to 2025. At each semi-annual rebalancing date, ETFs are ranked by prior-period return and divided into three equal groups—Winners, Median, and Losers. Contrary to conventional momentum logic, the middle group consistently outperforms. The Median strategy grows USD 100 to USD 199.90 by end-2025, a CAGR of 3.79% against 2.17% for the passive benchmark, with a higher Sharpe ratio (0.606 vs. 0.494) and a shallower maximum drawdown ($-11.6\%$ vs. $-14.4\%$). Newey–West HAC and Lo (2002) tests confirm statistical significance ($p=0.031$ and $p=0.014$), and an expanding-window walk-forward procedure yields $p=0.0005$ across 27 out-of-sample evaluations from 2012 to 2025. The result is robust to calendar alignment, evaluation endpoint, lookback window, and execution timing, and survives transaction costs by a wide margin. The strategy requires no interest rate forecasts, no proprietary data, and is implementable with standard ETF brokerage access. Full article

For decades, research has provided consistent findings on the decline in the importance of religion in Western societies. The question is how religiosity is reproduced against this backdrop. This study assumes that religious socialisation takes place primarily as family socialisation. The aim of this article is to gain a more precise understanding of this process. To this end, it reconstructs the transmission of Christian faith in three-generation families in East Germany. The sample comprises 15 three-generation families from different social backgrounds and world views. In order to ensure the validity of the findings, a triangulation of the following qualitative investigation methods was carried out: individual interviews, photo documentation and family discussions. As a result, three forms of positive transmission of religious influences across several family generations are presented typologically: transmission with hardly any change, declining religiosity and intensified religiosity in the youngest generation. It becomes apparent that the more indifferent religion appears to the individual, the more difficult it becomes to transmit religious attitudes. Complementary to this, however, it also becomes apparent that transmission is particularly sustainable in terms of socialisation when it is combined with openness to the social environment. The lack of religious resonance areas in society can lead to an intentional dynamisation of the transmission processes. Using quantitative data, the thesis is put forward that religious socialisation paths are more diverse in East Germany than in West Germany, where transmission still tends to follow traditional patterns. Full article

Protected area management plays a crucial role in conserving biodiversity, especially in areas where increasing demand for natural resources is associated with fast-growing human populations, such as West Africa. Investigating the perceptions of people with first-hand knowledge of protected area management provides important insights about biodiversity conservation, wildlife law enforcement, and human activities to inform adaptive management. Using 442 semi-structured interviews, we assessed the perceptions of park rangers and local residents in and around Fazao-Malfakassa National Park in Togo, West Africa, which was managed by the non-profit Franz Weber Foundation from 1990 to 2015, and since 2015 has been managed by the government of Togo. Both rangers and residents reported significant economic concerns following the park’s transfer from private to state management, with salary declines negatively affecting rangers and declines in community development projects and income-generating activities negatively affecting residents. Law enforcement capacity and resources also declined under state management, severely undermining the ability of rangers to curb illegal activities in the park, especially poaching and the destruction of trees to harvest wild honey and produce commercial charcoal. All rangers and most residents who had experience with both private and state park management preferred private management. There is an urgent need to increase surveillance and law enforcement capacity in the park to combat poaching and other illegal activities, and to engage local communities in the park’s long-term protection. To this end, rangers and residents are calling for change, and specifically recommend returning the park to competent private management to safeguard Togo’s last large refuge for nature and wildlife. Full article

Regional production-consumption imbalances and deficient multimodal connectivity in grain circulation systems have rendered traditional segmented transport inefficient, loss-intensive, and costly, constraining overall supply chain performance. In China, the persistent north-to-south and west-to-east grain transfer patterns, driven by regional production–consumption imbalances, have imposed significant challenges on the grain circulation system, making multimodal transport optimization a critical priority for national food security. Multimodal transport, a critical logistics optimization strategy, integrates diverse transport modes and hub nodes to enable end-to-end coordination, thereby enhancing circulation efficiency and food security. This study systematically reviews the transport configurations and modal characteristics of grain multimodal transport, and employs bibliometric analysis with the VOSviewer tool to map publication trends and keyword co-occurrence networks. Subsequently, recent advances in transshipment hub location selection and route optimization in multimodal transport systems are examined. Finally, existing technical bottlenecks are summarized, and future research directions are outlined from the perspectives of intelligent logistics, green and low-carbon development, coordinated operations, and supply chain resilience. Full article

Efficient apple orchard water management under climate variability requires understanding how fruit load and water supply regulate branch-scale water use to optimize irrigation, yield, and fruit quality. During the summer of 2014, sap flow (SF) and maximum daily shrinkage (MDS) were measured in one branch from six apple trees (Malus domestica Borkh. Cv. ‘Jazz™’) using the Compensation Heat Pulse method and diameter variation sensors in an orchard near Havelock North, New Zealand. One west-oriented branch per tree, with diameters of 1.5 to 2.3 cm, was monitored alongside midday stem (ψs) and leaf (ψl) water potentials, leaf gas exchanges, leaf area index (LAI), and fruit dry matter per branch at the end of the growing season. Half of the trees were subjected to irrigation withdrawal after day of year (DOY) 31 (non-irrigated treatment), resulting in a significantly lower midday stem water potential (ψs) by DOY 56 (−1.03 MPa). Pre-harvest, SF and MDS were tightly correlated (r² = 0.69), but this correlation decreased post-harvest (r² = 0.16) due to reduced fluctuations in both SF and branch variations (BV). SF was normalized per unit of leaf area, categorizing branches into high and low LAI: fruit dry matter ratio. SF values were approximately 2.2 times higher for FI pre-harvest and remained 2-fold higher post-harvest, associated with lower ψl and higher midday leaf transpiration for FI. MDS was identified as a better indicator of mild water deficit compared to SF, with both measurements responding effectively to midday vapor pressure deficit and reference evapotranspiration values. Overall, MDS proved to be a more sensitive indicator of mild water deficit than SF, while fruit load exerted a persistent influence on branch water use, highlighting the value of branch-scale measurements for improving irrigation management in apple orchards. Full article

In the summer of 2022, a massive toxic algal bloom of the haptophyte Prymnesium parvum devastated the Oder River in Poland and Germany. Between the end of July and the beginning of September, an estimated hundred thousand fish, mussels, and aquatic snails died. Since then, Prymnesium parvum has been established in the river network, as confirmed by monthly sampling, and there is the potential that such a catastrophe could repeat itself. Here, we report the occurrence of an apparently non-toxic bloom of the ‘golden algae’ Prymnesium parvum in May and June 2024 at comparable abundances to the ones observed during 2022, with a maximum abundance of 120,000 cell equivalents (CE)/mL in the main stem river without any associated fish deaths. Interestingly, in July 2024, local blooms in the West Oder even exceeded these abundances (160,000 CE/mL). The main-stem abundances decreased to 850–4250 CE/mL in July and 5–500 CE/mL in August. During the bloom, no mass mortalities of aquatic organisms were reported despite high abundances. Nutrients (total nitrogen TN, total phosphorus TP, N:P ratio) were inconspicuous and comparable to the disaster in 2022. To our knowledge, this is the first record of a massive Prymnesium bloom that did not result in mass fish deaths. Full article

Musicking-as-play is an ontological conceptualisation that equips us to look at music-making practices in new ways in order to reveal future potentials for music education. This article discusses a theory-testing case study which applies the ‘musicking-as-play’ lens to what is, from the outside, often viewed as the least creative and most restrictive professional music-making context: the highly repetitive environment of the musical theatre band. If ‘musicking-as-play’ is present there, the thinking goes, then the conception is sufficiently robust to be applied more generally and to influence how music performance is taught. Following detailed observations of their working practices, five band members of a long-running West End musical in London and an experienced musical director were interviewed about their professional experiences. Many of these musicians had performed the show well over 1000 times, up to eight times a week for many years. Questions were based on a theoretical framework which sets play in relief alongside ritual, work and communitas. Findings confirm that the musicians perceived their work as a form of play, and a number of context-specific characteristics of play are identified. Implications for conservatoire pedagogies are discussed. Full article

We describe a new species of Desmoscolex collected from subtidal muddy sediments off Jindo Island, on the southern margin of Korea’s west coast. Desmoscolex (Desmoscolex) curuvus sp. nov. is distinguished by 17 main rings, a 9/8 somatic setal arrangement, subdorsal setae with a slightly swollen and hollow distal end, an oval head with laterally extended foreign material, a rounded amphidial fovea confined within the head region, and broad cephalic setae bearing a fine central canal with lateral membranes. The terminal ring is strongly bent ventrally. Females exhibit pronounced sexual dimorphism, including a pair of dorsal setae on the thirteenth main ring and a thicker terminal ring (maximum width 25–26 μm in males and 24–31 μm in females). High-resolution scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observations revealed a distinctive lip-region ultrastructure composed of a tuberculate membrane and six fragment-like membranous elements, representing a rare configuration within the genus. By documenting a new species possessing membranous structures in the cephalic setae and providing detailed ultrastructural characterization of the lip region, this study offers important new evidence for refining species delimitations in Desmoscolex. These findings underscore the diagnostic value of lip-region morphology and highlight the need for targeted sampling and further ultrastructural analyses to better resolve the hidden morphological diversity of the genus, particularly in the underexplored northwestern Pacific. Full article