Search Results (7,014)

This paper is a first attempt to marry constructive nonlinear control theory techniques with active inference. Specifically, we are interested in the relationship between differential flatness and the design of generative models for use in control settings. We place specific emphasis on the pathwise properties of differentially flat systems that inherit from their definition in terms of successive temporal derivatives and relate this to the use of generalised coordinates of motion in formulating continuous-time generative models in active inference. To illustrate the basic concepts, we appeal to the example of oculomotor control. Full article

Gamification is widely used to enhance student motivation, yet many educational design proposals remain conceptual and provide limited operational guidance for digital learning environments. This paper introduces APAR (Activities, Points, Achievements and Rewards), a content-independent structural framework for designing and implementing educational gamification in learning platforms. Grounded in motivation theories (including Self-Determination Theory and Relatedness–Autonomy–Mastery–Purpose) and reward taxonomies (Status, Access, Power and Stuff), APAR distinguishes high-level design constructs from concrete game elements (e.g., points, badges and leaderboards) and provides a systematic design loop linking learning activities, feedback, intermediate goals and reinforcement. The contribution includes (i) a mapping table relating each APAR construct to motivation models, supported dynamics and typical learning-platform implementations; (ii) an actionable design guide; and (iii) an empirical illustration implemented in Moodle in a higher-education Computer Networks course. In this setting, the proportion of enrolled students taking the final exam increased from 58% to 72% in the first year, and the proportion of enrolled students passing increased from 17% to 38%; in 2022–2023 these values were 70% and 39%, respectively (56% of exam takers passed). While the use case relies on quantitative course-level indicators and is observational, the findings support the potential of structural gamification as an integrated methodological tool and motivate further mixed-method validations. Full article

Undergraduate civil engineering students frequently struggle to transition from deterministic to probabilistic reasoning, a conceptual shift essential for modern structural design practice governed by reliability-based codes. This paper presents a design-based research (DBR) contribution and a theoretically grounded pedagogical framework that integrates AI-powered conversational tutoring with interactive simulations to scaffold this transition. The framework synthesizes cognitive load theory, scaffolding principles, self-regulated learning research, and threshold concepts theory. The design incorporates three novel elements: (1) a structured misconception inventory specific to structural reliability, derived from literature and expert elicitation, with each misconception linked to targeted intervention strategies; (2) an integration architecture connecting large language model tutoring with domain-specific simulations, where simulation states inform tutoring and misconception detection triggers targeted activities; and (3) a scaffolded module sequence building systematically from deterministic foundations through probability concepts to reliability analysis methods. Sequential modules progress from uncertainty recognition through Monte Carlo simulation and design applications. We provide technical specifications for the implementation of AI tutoring, including prompt engineering strategies, accuracy safeguards that address known limitations of large language models (LLMs), and protocols for escalation to human instructors. An assessment framework specifies concept inventory items, process measures, and practical competence tasks. Ultimately, this paper provides testable conjectures and identifies conditions under which the framework might fail, structuring subsequent empirical validation with student participants following institutional ethics approval. Full article

This study aims to explore how industrial heritage regeneration spaces influence employees’ physical and psychological health through restorative perception. With the rapid urbanization and increasing emphasis on sustainable development, the adaptive reuse of industrial heritage sites has become a vital strategy in urban renewal. However, the impact of such spaces on people’s health remains underexplored, especially in terms of how the work environment and restorative psychological mechanisms interact. Using a cross-sectional survey design, data from 486 employees in adaptive reuse projects across major cities in China were analyzed through Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). Employees were chosen as the target population because they represent a group with stable, repeated, and long-term exposure to the regenerated environment during daily routines. Compared with visitors, whose exposure duration, activity purposes, and spatial routes are highly variable, employees provide a more consistent context to test the proposed restorative mechanisms. The results revealed that industrial heritage attribute perception (IHAP), including scale, materiality, historical presence, and functional transformation, significantly predicted restorative perception (β = 0.546, p < 0.001), which in turn positively influenced both psychological health (β = −0.647, p < 0.001) and physical health (β = 0.688, p < 0.001). Instrumental variable analysis using “building age” and “green coverage rate” confirmed the robustness of these findings, showing that restorative perception still significantly improved mental (β = −2.295, p < 0.001) and physical health (β = 0.528, p < 0.001) after addressing endogeneity issues. Furthermore, individual differences such as work tenure (β = 0.239, p < 0.001) and environmental sensitivity (β = 0.054, p > 0.05) moderated these effects. This study extends Attention Restoration Theory (ART) by applying it to historical industrial environments, offering both theoretical insights and practical guidance for designing adaptive reuse spaces that promote employee well-being. Full article

While there is extensive literature on the strengths of different supervisory models, we have limited understanding of how the relational capacity of front-line staff may impact how they receive and seek feedback from their supervisor. This study examines how mental health providers’ and front-line staff’s own rejection sensitivity may be associated with the supervisory relationship and the ways in which job feedback is sought and received in community-based mental health settings. Cross-sectional survey data were collected from 156 front-line staff of three mental health agencies. Staff were administered an original survey using validated measures related to supervision, feedback, and relational capacities. We found staff with a higher rejection sensitivity (RS) were less likely to actively seek feedback about their performance; and, when feedback was received, were more likely to rate its quality as poor. Staff with a higher RS were more likely to perceive their supervisor and their relationship negatively. This is the first study to examine whether workers’ relational capacities, as expressed through a higher RS, influence their perceptions of supervision and quality of feedback and their feedback-seeking behaviors. These findings build theory related to the important role that staff relational capacities play in influencing organizational dynamics and support. Full article

Traditionally, the field of forensic anthropology has built its foundation on being an objective observer of human behavior to answer questions of medicolegal significance. With the publication of the NAS report in 2009, the field continues to fulfill scientific criteria by analyzing data and providing statistical validation for methods of identification, yet may often fall short in offering interpretations of the patterns that exist and the underlying factors influencing these observations. Conversely, biocultural anthropology excels at theorizing and interpreting social patterns by recognizing that biology and culture interact to impact an individual’s lived experience, but its foundation often lacks a robust statistical lens. However, if we combine the analytics of forensic anthropology with the interpretive power of biocultural anthropology—specifically, social theories of behavior—we have the opportunity to explore the intersection between personhood, the body, and society. One such example can be seen through examining the prolonged (and often generational) effects of structural, physical, and cultural violence, social injustices, inequities, and inequalities that may affect an individual’s propensity to be both a perpetrator AND a victim of circumstance. This paper examines previous work discussing the theoretical foundations of forensic anthropology and existing social theory research to bridge the gap between the “who,” the “why,” and the “when” as they exist in the forensic record. Ultimately, the goal is to provide meaningful steps for understanding, interpreting, and potentially influencing change in the field of forensic anthropology. Full article

This study examines how business school students with no programming background develop technical literacy through a newly introduced Digital Innovation course. Addressing a gap in non-STEM education research—where little is known about how social science students experience technical literacy interventions—we draw on qualitative data from group exam reflections (n = 14) and mid-semester survey responses (n = 7). Using an inductive thematic analysis, the study investigates how students perceived, navigated, and made sense of foundational coding activities. Four themes emerged: (1) Perceived value of coding and technical literacy, (2) Hidden gaps in foundational technical literacy, (3) AI as a cognitive and pedagogical scaffold and (4) Emerging technical competence and identity formation. Framed within theories of digital literacy and constructivist learning, the findings show how limited, scaffolded exposure to web development can shift students from digital consumption toward novice digital production. The study contributes empirical insight into how coding can be meaningfully embedded within business school curricula and offers pedagogical recommendations for designing accessible technical literacy interventions. Full article

Leadership speeches delivered within the United Nations and UNESCO play an active role in shaping global policy discourse. As widely circulated texts, they influence how policymakers understand sustainability, responsibility, and education by defining global challenges, allocating responsibility, and communicating shared priorities. This study examines how these concepts are articulated in selected leadership speeches delivered between 2022 and 2025. The analysis adopts a pragmatic framing approach informed by non-linear pragmatic theory. It focuses on six interrelated dimensions: problem definition, causal responsibility, treatment responsibility, value framing, future-oriented framing, and education-specific framing. The findings show that sustainability is consistently framed as a complex ethical challenge linked to climate change, social inequality, and global injustice. Responsibility is presented as shared but uneven, with greater obligations assigned to high-income countries, international institutions, and education systems. Education is addressed both directly, through references to curriculum reform, teacher preparation, and higher education leadership, and indirectly as a means of supporting climate resilience, ethical technological development, and global citizenship. Overall, the study demonstrates that leadership speeches function as influential discursive sites through which sustainability narratives are advanced and priorities for Education for Sustainable Development are communicated, highlighting the value of pragmatic framing for research on international sustainability communication. Full article

Spatial skills, while vital to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) and STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) fields, are fundamental to understanding all mathematics. Yet the absence of spatial development in elementary curricula, particularly geometry, where such skills can be deeply explored, is compounded by a lack of theoretical and empirical research, especially in deaf education, where little research addresses learners’ spatial-geometric understandings and the ways their bodies contribute to developing such understandings. We first review relevant literature to interrelate mathematics, spatial activity, and embodied cognition with aesthetics for STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) in deaf education. We then present a case study in which we observed and assessed Evan, a deaf student, as he worked on three geometry tasks. This video-based research utilises the Pirie–Kieren Theory/Model to further consider the aesthetic, spatially dynamic, and embodied ways that Evan’s geometric understandings emerged and evolved into more formal mathematical activity. Finally, we discuss the ways the study findings focused on spatial-geometric development support future STEAM education research and classroom mathematics towards growth-oriented learning for deaf students. Full article

This review provides a systematic critique of the debate between two paradigms in the philosophy of mind—the Naturalist–Externalist Research Program (NERP) and the Phenomenal Intentionality Research Program (PIRP)—with particular focus on Uriah Kriegel’s reconciliation project. Following Kriegel’s view, attention is given to rational agents’ awareness of their mental states—a key issue since most current artificial intelligence systems aim to model rational thinking and action. Naturalist accounts derive mental content from brain activity and environmental interaction, emphasizing a constitutive dependence of the former on the latter. In contrast, phenomenological theories assert that the object of mental states is an internal semblance presented to the subject. Within this framework, I maintain that Kriegel attempts to naturalize mental content within the framework of a Same Order theory, but this limits his ability to demonstrate that intentionality is grounded in consciousness in the sense of the Phenomenal Intentionality Research Program. Compounding this issue, the idea that the mind arises from manipulating representations has been challenged by dynamical approaches to cognitive science, yet advanced representational models persist, often simulating phenomenological qualities through forms of internal data organization. Methodologically, the approach is primarily comparative and reconstructive, focusing on the structural tensions and theoretical commitments that distinguish NERP and PIRP. Full article

A novel unsymmetrical azine, 6-((2-oxoindolin-3-ylidene)hydrazineylidene)indolo[2,1-b]quinazolin-12(6H)-one, was synthesized through a condensation reaction between tryptanthrin-6-hydrazone and isatin in chloroform under reflux conditions. Structural characterization revealed the compound exists as a mixture of geometric isomers with one predominant form. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations identified the E,E configuration as the most stable isomer. The isomerization barriers for both C=N bonds were calculated at approximately 18.5 kcal/mol via nitrogen inversion. Given the established biological activities of tryptanthrin and isatin derivatives, this hybrid azine represents a promising lead compound for developing bifunctional drug candidates. Full article

The governance of digital platforms is a key factor in sustainable business development. Nevertheless, the specific governance mechanisms through which platforms reconfigure virtual (e-commerce) and physical (logistics) systems, and whether these outcomes are equitable or sustainable, remain insufficiently examined. This research proposes an analytical framework, Systemic Functional Dependency, to elucidate how platform governance shapes the co-evolution of digital and physical activities in the platform economy. The analysis of China’s platform economy from 2013 to 2022 reveals a governance-induced bifurcation: Core regions build sustainable, synergistic business models (local e-com coef. = 0.204, p < 0.05). In contrast, peripheral regions face structural decoupling, where digital-led growth (22.63% CAGR) vastly outpaces the expansion of physical business capacity (6.46% CAGR). This imbalance, caused by a functional transition (32.21% CAGR in net-work-serving logistics vs. 2.44% in local-serving logistics), led to a structural breakpoint in 2017–2018. The findings advance digital business theory by linking platform governance to asymmetric outcomes. This leads to a functional lock-in for peripheral regions, which is a big problem for sustainability and shows how important it is to have governance frameworks right away. Full article

Background/Objectives: Diabetes mellitus is a serious global disease characterized by chronic hyperglycemia, resulting from defects in insulin secretion, insulin action, or both. It represents a major health concern affecting millions of people worldwide. This condition can lead to severe complications significantly affecting patients’ quality of life. Due to the limitations and side effects of current therapies, the search for safer and more effective antidiabetic agents, particularly from natural sources, has gained considerable attention. This study investigates the antidiabetic potential of seaweed-derived compounds through structure-based virtual screening targeting α-glucosidase. Methods: A library of compounds derived from the Seaweed Metabolite Database was subjected to a hierarchical molecular docking protocol against α-glucosidase. Extra Precision (XP) docking was employed to identify the top-ranked ligands based on their binding affinities. Drug-likeness was assessed according to Lipinski’s Rule of Five, followed by pharmacokinetic and toxicity predictions to evaluate ADMET properties. Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations were performed to analyze the electronic properties and chemical reactivity of the selected compounds. Furthermore, molecular dynamics simulations were carried out to examine the stability and dynamic behavior of the ligand–enzyme complexes. Results: Following XP docking and ADMET prediction, four promising compounds were selected: Colensolide A, Rhodomelol, Callophycin A, and 7-(2,3-dibromo-4,5-dihydroxybenzyl)-3,7-dihydro-1H-purine-2,6-dione. Molecular dynamics simulations further confirmed the structural stability and strong binding interactions of these compounds within the α-glucosidase active site. Conclusions: This investigation demonstrated the important role of seaweed-derived compounds in inhibiting α-glucosidase activity. Further experimental validation is warranted to confirm their biological activity and therapeutic potential. Full article

Cathinone and its synthetic derivatives are among the most popular classes of narcotics worldwide. Experimental studies have demonstrated variable cytotoxic activity among these substances. Until now, the research on cathinones has been limited to their psychotropic activity. Therefore, the structure–activity correlation in this group remains poorly understood. The current study aimed to expand the understanding of the influence of cathinone structural modifications on cytotoxic activity. A group of cathinones whose cytotoxic activity has been experimentally analyzed by a single research group was studied in silico using density functional theory (DFT). A systematic characterization of the substituent effect and the aromaticity changes depending on the polarity of the medium is presented in this paper. A correlation between growing electron-withdrawing properties of the N-end and its carbonyl fragment as well as aromaticity decrease with growing cytotoxic activity were observed. Full article

The aging behavior and electrical performance evolution of Cu–4Ti alloy were systematically investigated through experimental characterization and theoretical modeling. A series of solution and aging treatments were conducted at temperatures ranging from 450 °C to 600 °C for durations of 1–420 min, with and without 50% cold deformation. Based on solid-state diffusion theory, the activation energy of the aging process was determined using the Arrhenius relationship combined with regression analysis. The calculated activation energies were 298.5 kcal·mol⁻¹ for the solution-treated alloy and 136.1 kcal·mol⁻¹ for the cold-deformed alloy, indicating that deformation-induced lattice defects substantially accelerate atomic diffusion and precipitation kinetics. A predictive model was further established to describe electrical conductivity as a function of aging temperature and time, with high correlation coefficients (R² = 0.90 for the non-deformed and R² = 0.89 for the deformed condition). The model accurately captures the conductivity evolution under various heat treatment conditions, demonstrating its strong predictive capability. Moreover, kinetic curves were constructed to intuitively represent the relationship between conductivity, temperature, and time, providing a rapid and visual tool for process optimization. Full article