Search Results (244)

The Iberian Peninsula hosts one of the world’s most endemic fish faunas. Its extensive evolutionary, palaeogeographic, and geological history has produced a distinctive freshwater fish fauna. Many of these species have very limited distributions, making them especially vulnerable to habitat disturbance. Past monitoring of this biodiversity has revealed alarming results, indicating that most native Spanish species are at risk. The causes of this serious situation are varied and reflect the ongoing deterioration of freshwater ecosystems. The main pressures faced by populations include pollution, loss of river connectivity caused by hydraulic infrastructure, regulation of watercourses, water extraction, fishing, and the presence of invasive species. Additionally, the effects of climate change worsen the risk of extinction for these populations, particularly through the increased frequency and intensity of droughts and heatwaves. It is evident that current planning models and investments are inadequate to conserve freshwater fish. To prevent the extinction of many populations in Spain, especially Iberian endemics, it is crucial to change the management of aquatic ecosystems and adopt integrated solutions that halt population declines and promote the sustainable use of aquatic resources. The IUCN Red Lists of Threatened Species are vital indicators of biodiversity health and are widely used to guide and structure conservation efforts. These lists, published in the Red Books, result from a thorough evaluation process that employs specific categories and criteria to assess the extinction risk of species, both globally and regionally. This report presents preliminary findings from a monitoring study on the current state of freshwater fish in Spain. The monitoring results reveal that, based on IUCN assessment criteria, two species are classified as extinct (EX), four as critically endangered (CR), eighteen as endangered (EN), and twenty-one as vulnerable (VU). Of fifty-seven species documented, 79% are considered threatened. The project’s final outcome is the development of the Atlas and Red Book of Freshwater Fish of Spain. This resource includes the main native and invasive freshwater and diadromous fish species, offers detailed information on their biological and ecological traits, and provides an up-to-date inventory of records along with an assessment of their conservation status. Full article

Friar Hernando de Talavera can be considered the main strategist of evangelisation at the end of the 15th century in the recently conquered Kingdom of Granada. To this end, he used the publication Breve y muy provechosa doctrina de lo que debe saber todo cristiano together with eight other very useful treatises [Brief and Very Useful Doctrine of What Every Christian Should Know, with Eight Other Very Useful Treatises], which he accompanied with his Instrucción a los vecinos del Albaicín [Instruction to the Residents of the Albaicín]. Successive editions of the catechism and some books included under the generic title Breve y muy provechosa doctrina [A Brief and Very Useful Doctrine] throughout the 16th century demonstrated its doctrinal soundness and pastoral effectiveness. Furthermore, they were later used not only for catechesis but also for literacy in the Kingdom of Granada and in the early days of the American conquest. The study will systematically present the different editions and their intentions from the Granada incunabulum to the present day. The texts composed by the first archbishop of Granada were the words used to unite several kingdoms and conquered territories in the faith and in the Castilian language. The aim of this study is to provide a systematic overview of the various editions published throughout history and to analyse the influence that some of them exerted on the subsequent development of evangelisation in Granada, Castile, and possibly the Americas. Full article

Conventional recommender systems often rely on shallow collaborative signals, which limits their performance under sparse and popularity-skewed conditions. To address this, we propose a knowledge-aware framework that combines an item hypergraph induced by user interaction histories, a top-k user similarity graph, and one-hop, relation-aware knowledge-graph aggregation. The hypergraph branch learns high-order item co-occurrence representations, which are aggregated into initial user vectors and then refined through user similarity propagation. On the item side, user-conditioned relation attention aggregates one-hop KG neighbors to produce semantic item representations. User and item representations are fused by an MLP scorer, and a lightweight popularity-aware post-scoring adjustment can optionally be applied to moderate head-item dominance. Experiments on MovieLens-1M, Last.FM and Book-Crossing show strong performance among the compared baselines in AUC, ACC, and Recall@K. Full article

This article argues that the reconstruction of modern knowledge in late Qing China was not merely the result of the passive importation of Western disciplinary categories, nor simply the natural collapse of the traditional Sibu 四部 system. Focusing on Xia Zengyou 夏曾佑 (1863–1924), it shows how Buddhism, especially Mahayana Buddhist reading traditions and classificatory logic, functioned as an indigenous epistemological resource in the reordering of knowledge. Through an analysis of Xia’s personal reading lists and handwritten catalogues, including Shengping Suoxue 生平所學 and his Handwritten Catalogue of Collected Books 手抄藏書書目, this study demonstrates that Xia organized his books in the sequence of Buddhist works, newly translated Western works, and indigenous Chinese texts. This arrangement reversed the Confucian-centered hierarchy of the Sibu system, in which the jing 經 category occupied the privileged position. By comparing Xia’s classificatory practice with those of Shen Zengzhi 沈曾植 (1850–1922), Liang Qichao 梁啟超 (1873–1929), Xu Weize 徐維則 (1867–1919), and Yang Renshan 楊仁山 (1837–1911), the article argues that Xia did not simply adopt Western systems of knowledge. Rather, he used Buddhist textual order, cross-sectarian Mahayana learning, and Buddhist epistemological assumptions to relativize classical authority, accommodate Western learning, and construct a new reading horizon. Buddhism in this case was not only a matter of personal faith or religious revival; it became a conceptual and classificatory tool through which modern knowledge could be made intelligible. The article therefore contributes to the study of religion and modernity by showing that the formation of modern Chinese knowledge was not a purely secular process, but a religiously mediated transformation. Full article

Longmeizi 龍眉子 was an inheritor of the Southern Lineage of Daoism 道教南宗 under Weng Baoguang 翁葆光. By tracing the historical documentation of Longmeizi’s Daoist lineage, it becomes evident that the narrative details were continuously enriched through textual accumulation. By tracing and analyzing the formative history of documents related to Longmeizi’s Daoist lineage, it is evident that in the process of forming this Daoist lineage, lineage identity 宗派認同 was continuously solidified and even “labeled 標籤化” within these layered texts. The transmission genealogy between patriarchs across generations gradually became clear, definite, and verifiable. After Longmeizi compiled the Jinye Huandan Yinzheng Tu 金液還丹印證圖 (Illustrations of the Return of the Liquified Gold to the Cinnabar Field) from the Jiading period (1208–1224) of the Southern Song Dynasty to the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty, this book was initially transmitted within the Daoist lineage: Longmeizi → Bai Yuchan 白玉蟾 → Wang Jinchan 王金蟾. By the end of the Yuan Dynasty, a literatus named Yuanyangzi Lin Jing 元阳子林静 from Wuxing 吴兴 had also read this book. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the mode of transmission for the Jinye Huandan Yinzheng Tu shifted from being primarily transmitted orally within Daoist circles to being primarily disseminated through the printing and circulation of books. This led to the emergence of many different versions and commentaries of the Jinye Huandan Yinzheng Tu. Through the compilation and printing of book series, the Jinye Huandan Yinzheng Tu gained broad circulation during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Its annotators, publishers, and readers spanned various identities and social classes, while its geographic reach extended to the Central Plains (Zhongyuan 中原), Southwest China, and Jiangnan regions. By examining the textual circulation history of the Jinye Huandan Yinzheng Tu, it can be observed that the development of the book printing industry during the Ming and Qing periods, particularly the flourishing of series publications, facilitated a shift in the primary mode of transmission for Daoist texts and even in the nature of the texts themselves. On the other hand, the case study of the Jinye huandan yinzheng tu is an example that illustrates the diversity and richness in the methods of Daoist cultural transmission and their development during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Full article

The developments in mathematics in the nineteenth century, in particular non-Euclidean geometry, which was not concerned with flat space, but with curvature, led at the end of the century and the beginning of the next one to much discussion of and experiments with the fourth dimension. The idea of a fourth dimension played a major role in the arts. In literature the Symbolists were convinced that there existed a “higher” reality behind the visible one and tried to suggest it in their poetry. In pictorial art and sculpture completely new forms emerged that distorted reality and in that way showed that one had to look at the world in a different way; there was something beyond the usual three dimensions. Many artists consciously tried to visualize this “beyondness”, the fourth dimension. The followers of the idea of a higher reality considered the fourth dimension as time, most artists as space. Much influence in the discussion about the fourth dimension had Charles Howard Hinton and, especially in Russia, Pyotr Ouspensky; both wrote a book entitled The Fourth Dimension (1904 and 1909, respectively), in which they propagated their ideas. The Futurist poet Velimir Klebnikov did not explicitly mention the fourth dimension in his work, but in view of his scientific interests (he studied mathematics at the University of Kazan, one of whose most celebrated scientists was Nikolai Lobachevsky, the founder of non-Euclidean geometry) and his close ties with the avant-garde painters, he was undoubtedly aware of the ideas about the fourth dimension in his time. Khlebnikov compared himself with Lobachevsky and used his geometry in his own description of the cities of the future. With his experiments with language and numerals he tried to find a new meaning behind the usual ones, and he made endless calculations to determine the laws of time: there must be some principle that rules the continuous stream of events. Establishing this principle, one might transcend history and ultimately find a solution for fate and death. His entire work is devoted to the search of a new dimension. Full article

Ideological and political education (IPE) is a cornerstone of higher education in China. As IPE-related book collections expand rapidly, university libraries face a growing challenge of information overload, which hinders the accurate characterization of student reading preferences and the efficient matching of resources to demand. To address these issues, this study proposes GDNN, a practical hybrid recommendation system designed for both warm-start and cold-start scenarios. For warm-start users with historical borrowing records, we develop the PPSM-GCN framework. This framework enhances the classical graph convolutional collaborative filtering model LightGCN by integrating a novel potential positive sample mining (PPSM) strategy, which effectively mitigates data sparsity and improves the modeling of latent interests. For cold-start users without interaction history, we introduce an embedding and MLP architecture. This deep neural network learns implicit reader–book associations from reader attributes and book metadata, enabling personalized recommendations even in the absence of historical data. Experimental results demonstrate that PPSM-GCN and the embedding and MLP method achieve significant performance gains in their respective scenarios. This research provides both technical support and practical insights for the precise delivery of IPE resources and the overall enhancement of educational effectiveness in higher education. Full article

Background/Objectives: Commiphora gileadensis (Balm of Gilead) is an aromatic medicinal plant with a history of traditional use in ancient and Arabic medicine. It has been used traditionally to treat inflammation, infections, and wounds. Despite its long-standing cultural and economic importance, modern pharmacological validation requires a comprehensive synthesis of current scientific data. This review aims to provide a thorough comparative summary of the phytochemical composition and biological activities of its diverse products. Methods: An updated literature search was conducted using databases such as ScienceDirect, PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar, covering publications from approximately 2000 to 2025. The review included English-language peer-reviewed articles, books, and reports providing phytochemical analyses or biological evaluations. Data were manually extracted and categorized by plant parts (resin, leaves, bark, stems), major constituents, and specific pharmacological activities. Results: The review identified ten diverse chemical groups, mainly terpenoids (mono-, sesqui-, di-, and triterpenes) and flavonoids. Other remarkable classes included phenolic acids, phytosterols, lignans, coumarins, and fatty acids. However, the essential oil chemical profile is highly variable, influenced by geographical origin and preparation technique. Pharmacological studies demonstrated a wide spectrum of bioactivities, in particular antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, anticancer, antidiabetic, and wound-healing properties. Toxicological studies classified the plant as generally non-toxic; however, there is a notable lack of clinical and pharmacokinetic data. Conclusions:C. gileadensis possesses a rich and diverse secondary metabolite profile, validating its traditional ethnobotanical applications. Future research should prioritize pre-clinical and clinical trials to establish its safety, bioavailability, and metabolic fate for its successful integration into modern medicine. Full article

This study elucidates Luke’s analytical strategies for writing history in the book of Acts through comparison with the Roman historian Sallust, focusing on how both authors construct narratives of leadership. Although Sallust and Luke are rarely compared in New Testament scholarship due to conventional boundaries such as language, religion, and historical context, both authors deploy similar interpretive practices drawn from the broader milieu of Greco-Roman historiography. Sallust’s Bellum Catilinae presents Cicero as an ineffective leader who, despite suppressing Catiline’s conspiracy in 63 BCE, could not save Rome from moral decline. Conversely, Luke in the book of Acts, particularly in the Miletus Speech (Acts 20:17–38), depicts Paul as a leader whose tireless pastoral oversight caused the rise of Gentile Christianity across the Roman Empire. This comparative study reveals that Luke, like Sallust, shapes the past not merely by reporting events but by analyzing their significance through interpretive frameworks of leadership. Full article

Central European children’s literature can be read as both archive—recording shifting norms, institutions, and visual regimes—and agent, a medium through which childhood, citizenship, and cultural memory are made legible. This conceptual article proposes an edition-sensitive framework for analysing texts, images, and paratexts across Central Europe (1860–2025), with particular attention to institutional mediation. Rather than offering a comprehensive dataset or causal claims about reception, it synthesises research in childhood history, book and media history, memory studies, and translation and circulation studies to advance three arguments. First, children’s books are institutionally framed artefacts: paratexts and material features (series branding, curricular endorsements, library markings, pricing cues, regulatory traces) can be read as historically interpretable speech acts of legitimation. Second, shifts in visual and material regimes should be analysed as changing conditions of legibility—expectations of clarity, affect, and authority—rather than as mere stylistic evolution. Third, translation and circulation function as infrastructures that reorganise repertoires and interpretive horizons, complicating nation-centred narratives without exhaustive market mapping. The article concludes by stating methodological limits (catalogue gaps, survival bias, uneven metadata) and outlining a transferable agenda for paratext-centred documentation and edition-sensitive reading. Full article

This paper examines the relationship between the Book of Kings and the Book of Chronicles through a focused case study: the depiction of the altar(s) in Solomon’s temple. While scholarly models vary—some positing a shared source, others viewing Chronicles as a revision of Kings—this analysis supports the view, associated with Wellhausen, that Chronicles reinterprets the Deuteronomistic History in line with the Pentateuch, particularly its Priestly layer. In Kings, Solomon’s two altars function within a hierarchical system that distinguishes between the royal and communal spheres. Chronicles, by contrast, aligns the temple’s cultic architecture with the Tabernacle model, presenting a single sacrificial altar alongside a golden altar with a different function. The Chronicler’s account reveals its secondary nature through both expansion and abbreviation of the Kings narrative, shaped by a theological agenda to harmonize Israel’s cultic past with the normative framework of priestly law. Full article

This essay contends that Jean-Luc Godard’s late digital cinema elaborates a geopolitical aesthetics in which Europe confronts the return of its repressed histories through the very instability of the digital image. While Europe has long functioned in Godard’s work as both theme and epistemic horizon—echoing the Hegelian cartographies—Film Socialisme (2010) and The Image Book (2018) transform this Eurocentrism into a site of crisis. In these films, what Fredric Jameson terms the “political unconscious” (1981) emerges through the spectral return of Palestine and the Arab world, compelling a reckoning with colonial legacies and the limits of representation. The digital turn proves decisive. Godard mobilizes pixelation, saturation, glitch, and decomposed sound to reveal what might be called the technological unconscious of the medium. I develop the concept of “Digital Orientalism” to designate how Orientalist chronotopes persist in the digital age yet are unsettled by Godard’s experimental manipulation of audiovisual fragments. Through close readings of Film Socialisme and The Image Book, which incorporates works by Arab filmmakers including Youssef Chahine, Nacer Khemir, Ossama Mohammed, and Wiam Simav Bedirxan, I show how Godard’s fractured montages produce symptomatic cartographies of the world-system where repression, memory, and accident collide. Full article

Andrea Riccardi is an Italian Catholic historian, university professor, activist, and the founder of the Community of Sant’Egidio. His writings mainly deal with contemporary historical topics, with a particular focus on the history of the papacy today. However, his books do not neglect moral positions. He shapes his views in practice just as he does in his theoretical work. His community, the Community of Sant’Egidio carries out a significant peace mission, the moral foundations of which were laid by Riccardi. In this study, I wanted to collect primarily those moral principles and theoretical statements from Riccardi’s writings that came from his heart and define the Community’s peace mission. Pope Francis described this Catholic lay association as the community of the “three P’s’: preghiera (prayer), poveri (the poor), and pace (peace). The mission of peace and standing up for peace are therefore essential in the life of this Community. In Catholic social teaching, the importance of the message of peace has become increasingly valued in recent decades. Riccardi explains his own moral principles in this context. Full article

In the present qualitative study, we first synthesize research to clarify the concept of error in science as developed by epistemologists, philosophers, and historians. We also examine the concept of error in educational science, drawing from studies on science learning and teaching. To do this, we analyzed references found through a systematic review of books and journals. We also selected published articles on the history of physics and chemistry and consulted documents authored by scientists in English or in official translations. We guided our selection by choosing sources relevant to conceptualizing error in scientific and educational contexts. Our key findings show two categories of scientific error: those that have contributed to scientific progress and those that have hindered it. Some renowned scientists, such as Aristotle and Buridan, put forward theories of force and movement that were later shown to be false. However, these errors did not always impede scientific advancement. This research highlights how scientific errors have shaped the evolution of science and reveals insights into the scientific process and the resilience of the scientific community. In science education, researchers use various terms such as “student naïve reasoning,” “students’ alternative conceptions,” “students’ alternative theory,” and “misconceptions.” Students’ errors, like scientific errors, can be classified into two categories. The first type involves errors from distractions, misunderstandings, or unintentional mistakes. The second type results from students’ interactions with many natural and man-made phenomena, the common language used in society (which differs from scientific language), and errors passed down by teachers or found in textbooks. Finally, we note that identifying errors among scientists and students supports the development of strategy-based teaching for meaningful science learning. From this perspective, students will be pleased to know that some of their conceptions of force and motion are “similar” to those developed by Aristotle and Buridan, even if these conceptions are false relative to those developed by Galileo and Newton. Recognizing both scientists’ and students’ errors is essential for creating teaching strategies that promote deeper science learning. Full article

In this paper, I focus on a major corpus of the earliest Syrian Christian literature, Aphrahat the Persian Sage’s collection of epistles titled Demonstrations (Taḥwyātā; early 4th century), in order to gauge his thoughts on the “sins of reading”, peccata lectionis. First, I present the Aphrahatic corpus as it currently is and has been perceived over time in its Western and Eastern reception history. Then, I briefly consider what importance early Greek and Syriac monastic sources—like the Vita Antonii, the Pseudo-Macarian Homilies, Theodoret of Cyrrhus, Palladius’ Historia Lausiaca, the Ktābā dmasqātā (the Syriac Book of Steps), etc.—attributed to the reading of scripture as a regular part of a monk’s daily practice. It is against this historical backdrop that Aphrahat’s stance on reading scripture can be meaningfully interpreted. Finally, I present and analyze what the earliest-known orthodox Syrian church father, Aphrahat himself, has to say about the reading of scripture and its concurrent threat, the peccatum lectionis. As the Persian Sage was an excellent Biblical scholar, he made abundant references to religious reading practices in his Demonstrations. To his mind, the locus where sin may enter the meditative reading of early Syrian versions of the Bible is the interpretation of the text: misunderstanding it may lead to sin and potentially damnation. However, the wise person should be able to evade this danger, supported by the natural piety and cosmic religion inspired in them by the majesty of creation, which is a true reflection of divine infinity. Full article