Search Results (1,197)

Background: The persistent challenge of not having a physician or nurse practitioner for ongoing care for millions of residents imposes a burden on the health economy in Canada and demands a shift in focus from mere system registry to the value-based concept of attachment readiness. With a hypothesis that true attachment is a function of attachment readiness, a relational process shaped by the intersection of patients’ preparation, providers’ capacity, and systemic support, this study aims to investigate the challenges of attachment-creating barriers to meaningful healthcare relationships. Methods: This sequential mixed-methods study was designed to integrate a comprehensive scoping review of academic librarian-guided databases, search engines, grey literature, and snowballing, followed by 360-degree qualitative interviews with experts, service providers, and clients. Qualitative data was analyzed by thematic coding to answer the research questions. Results: Attachment is a function of a multitude of factors from patients and physicians’ “attachment readiness” is a multilevel, process-oriented condition shaped by patient preparedness, provider capacity, and system design more than a single episodic event or individual attribute. Facilitators such as team-based care, patient navigation, culturally responsive outreach, and structured onboarding reinforce readiness as a system-enabled condition. However, persistent system-level barriers delay attachment among motivated patients (readiness decay), leading to frustration, disengagement, and reduced trust. Findings further suggest that attachment is constrained not only by physician supply but also by time-sensitive readiness conditions. Conclusions: This study suggests that attachment to primary care is one leg of a three-legged stool, upheld and sustained by the two others- equity and access. To facilitate true attachment and to move beyond fragmented care and reliance on high-cost emergency departments, Canadian healthcare policy must consider attachment readiness through standardizing onboarding (implementing uniform digital intake processes to reduce repetitive data entry and administrative friction), an equity lens for prioritizing vulnerability (refining centralized waitlist algorithms to account for clinical urgency and social determinants of health), and supporting provider capacity (providing financial and administrative incentives that recognize the labour involved in establishing new longitudinal relationships for patients with complex needs). Full article

The transformation of forest landscapes is driven by complex socioecological dynamics. This research analyzes territorial transitions in the Zapotec indigenous community of San Pedro el Alto, Oaxaca, Mexico, from 1997 to 2021, linking vegetation cover changes with the consolidation of its community forest enterprise. Through a mixed methods design, we integrated a multitemporal geospatial analysis of cartographic series with systematic archival research and qualitative triangulation based on semi-structured interviews with key community stakeholders. Our results reveal a strong temporal correspondence, indicating that forest canopy alterations align with institutional milestones and silvicultural cycles rather than representing arbitrary degradation. The evidence indicates that intense forest disturbance and anthropic transitions, such as agricultural expansion, correspond with industrial operational crises, functioning as temporary, community-regulated social buffering mechanisms to secure livelihoods. Under the theoretical principles of the commons and New Institutional Economics, the forest functions as a highly resilient socioecological system where local governance and landscape modifications respond adaptively to sustain collective wellbeing. These findings highlight the value of combining spatial data with qualitative verification, proving that recognizing collective self-governance can inform contemporary territorial planning models to support biocultural heritage conservation. Full article

This paper examines how biophilic design intersects with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) amid disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, considering human–nature interactions as an individual-scale link between well-being and sustainability. Biophilic design—the integration of natural elements into the built environment—reflects well-being through human–nature interactions and connects social–ecological system dynamics and sustainability interdependencies. Drawing on evidence that pandemic-induced psychological stressors transformed people–environment relations, this study developed a conceptual framework linking selected SDG targets to the 14 biophilic design patterns and examined these relationships using data from a Europe-wide survey conducted in early 2023. It complements research on SDG interdependencies, which is mainly conducted at the system or policy level, by introducing individual experiences. NMI analysis identified a central cluster of strong statistical interdependencies among SDGs related to energy efficiency (SDG 7), infrastructure (SDG 9), and resource use (SDG 12), while SDGs associated with cities (SDG 11) and terrestrial ecosystems (SDG 15) showed weaker and more diffuse interdependencies. The observed interdependencies were strongest for SDGs represented by survey variables that reflect direct, everyday experiences of the built environment, such as indoor environmental quality, access to natural light, ventilation, contact with vegetation, and the use of natural materials, whereas SDGs represented by indirect or broader ecological dimensions exhibited weaker statistical associations. Not all conceptually linked SDGs were reflected equally in individual experiences; only a subset of potential interdependencies showed strong statistical—association. This study demonstrates that the pattern of SDG interdependencies depends on the analytical scale at which sustainability is examined. The study reinforces the value of the SDG framework as an analytical structure for sustainability science, enabling interdisciplinary investigations of complex interactions among environmental, social, and built-environment dimensions beyond policy implementation assessment. Full article

Sustainability Education (SE) is a complex pedagogical challenge that involves multiple disciplines and requires consensus on the content to be prioritized for citizenship education. Consensus-building on such complex issues can be effectively achieved through the Delphi technique, which relies on an anonymous panel of experts providing assessments through an iterative process. This study employed a modified Delphi method to develop a core curriculum for SE, tailored for non-specialist students at the pre-university or undergraduate level. The process involved two stages: first, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 experts to generate a list of key topics; subsequently, a questionnaire was administered using a ten-point Likert scale covering 59 key concepts, organized by conceptual area. The second panel, consisting of 40 professors from 10 departments at the University of Trento, evaluated and selected the topics for the curriculum. A consensus value was calculated for each item, and concepts were ranked according to their perceived importance and level of agreement. This research aims to arrive at a collective assessment that goes beyond individual disciplinary perspectives. The results demonstrate a strong multidisciplinary consensus on foundational and action-oriented dimensions, with the highest priority assigned to environmental sustainability and systemic interdependence (mean score of 9.3 on a 10-point scale), social equity (9.1), and operational energy efficiency (8.8). Conversely, highly specialized tools, such as carbon markets (7.2) and climate psychology (7.0), were deemed less central for general education. Furthermore, the analysis reveals that experts’ disciplinary backgrounds profoundly influenced their priorities, underscoring the necessity of a truly transdisciplinary approach. The results provide a systematic foundation for the development of interdisciplinary educational programs. Full article

Gifted students possess broad developmental potential; however, these characteristics may also create challenges in career decision-making. Previous research suggests that gifted individuals’ career development is influenced by multiple interacting factors across personal, familial, educational, and sociocultural domains. This retrospective study investigated the career development of individuals who participated in the preschool gifted program (PSMIGP: Problem-Solving and Multiple Intelligences for Gifted Preschoolers) launched by National Taiwan Normal University in 2003. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 18 participants selected based on domain of strength, gender, cohort, and willingness to participate. Interview data were analyzed using NVivo 15 through qualitative coding procedures, with multiple data sources, collaborative review, and peer discussion employed to enhance trustworthiness and contextual understanding. Findings revealed that gifted individuals’ career decisions were shaped by interacting personal, family, learning, and sociocultural factors. Although participants across domains demonstrated strong self-awareness and agency, academic participants generally followed more stable career pathways, whereas artistic participants encountered greater complexity and practical constraints. Artistic participants also exhibited greater sensitivity to perceived sociocultural risks. Based on these findings, this study underscores the importance of parental support, strengthened career guidance, and diverse exploratory opportunities within educational settings and the promotion of diverse social values to support gifted students’ career development. Overall, gifted career development should be understood as a dynamic process shaped through continuous interaction between individuals and their broader developmental contexts. Full article

As a potential contributor to urban sustainability, the commercialization of Urban Air Mobility depends on social license rather than mere technical feasibility. To address the limitations of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) in high-risk contexts, this study integrates trust, perceived risk, personal innovativeness, and governance expectation to construct an extended acceptance model tailored to China’s policy-driven institutional environment. Based on 567 valid samples analyzed via Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) and Multi-Group Analysis (MGA), the results reveal three core mechanisms. First, perceived risk positively enhances perceived usefulness (β = 0.765, p < 0.001) via risk-induced cognitive reframing, indicating that the public rationalizes threats by amplifying the technology’s functional value. Second, trust exhibits a strong compensatory effect on perceived ease of use (β = 0.885, p < 0.001) and directly drives behavioral intention (β = 0.549, p < 0.001), serving as a heuristic to reduce perceived complexity in risky decisions. Third, governance expectation directly drives behavioral intention (β = 0.225, p = 0.004) and attitude (β = 0.201, p = 0.007), confirming the primacy of institutional trust in China. The model explains 50.5% of the variance in behavioral intention (R² = 0.505) and 48.6% in attitude (R² = 0.486). Notably, the direct effects of perceived ease of use on intention were non-significant, redefining TAM boundaries where safety supersedes efficiency. Finally, gender moderates the covariance between innovativeness and governance expectation (female β = 0.765 vs. male β = 0.720, C.R. = 3.196, p = 0.001), revealing higher institutional dependency among females. These findings elucidate the risk–trust institution nexus in UAM, offering empirical evidence for differentiated sustainable transport policies and marketing strategies. Full article

Education plays a fundamental role in promoting sustainability by equipping learners with the knowledge, skills, and values required to address complex environmental, social, and economic challenges. In this context, STEM education has emerged as a powerful framework for fostering interdisciplinary thinking, problem-solving, and innovation aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals. This review examines recent advances in the integration of sustainability into STEM education across different educational levels, from primary education to higher education. Particular attention is given to current pedagogical approaches, interdisciplinary learning, teacher training, emerging digital technologies, and institutional strategies that facilitate the incorporation of sustainability into STEM curricula. To complement the qualitative discussion, a descriptive publication analysis is presented to identify research trends, major thematic areas, and emerging directions in the field. Furthermore, a conceptual framework is proposed to organize the relationships among educational context, resources, pedagogical processes, learning outcomes, and societal impact. Overall, this review highlights the opportunities and remaining challenges for developing sustainability-oriented STEM education and provides recommendations for future research, curriculum development, and educational policy. Full article

Today, the search for resources related to non-fossil raw materials that require less carbon-based energy consumption, use less water, and produce recyclable waste is prevailing. In the future, will this effort be replaced by resources sufficient to be produced in environmentally friendly ways? Resources will be circulated in a controlled manner, and materials will be sustainable. Most of the energy sources will be sustainable, derived from natural resources (sun, wind, waves, geothermal sources, etc.). The world will be managed by data, enabling resource sufficiency. Sustainable development is therefore a long-term strategy including economic, human (social), and environmental (material) resources. This strategy requires development in the complex identification and quantification of waste of different origins, including plastics and fibers. The identification of polymer complex mixtures and fibrous-blend waste, including microplastics, is a fundamental tool for effective environmental monitoring and comprehensive recycling management. Raman spectroscopy, combined with spectral unmixing techniques, provides a powerful tool for resolving overlapping spectral components and characterizing the composition of fibrous polymeric materials. The general goal of hyperspectral unmixing is to decompose an observed spectral mixture matrix into a set of pure component spectra and their respective portions (contributions or abundance) or ideally concentrations. This requires solving an inverse problem under physical and mathematical constraints. Principal component analysis (PCA), based on singular value decomposition (SVD), followed by independent component analysis (ICA) rotation, is used to reduce the number of components to a meaningful set of endmembers. The extracted endmembers should be statistically independent, nonnegative, and sum to one, because they represent real chemical components in the mixture. These requirements are fulfilled by constrained quadratic programming using the Newton linearization method. The RAMIX program, based on these procedures, has already been described, and its source code is available in another article written in Python. It is designed for the analysis of experimental Raman spectra of polymeric mixtures and for mapping waste fibrous blends. This program is used here for Raman spectral analysis of compressed textile samples composed of different staple fiber types. To evaluate Raman spectra, a simple, cost-effective, custom-built measurement system was created. This system allows mapping of fibrous mixtures by Raman spectra across a line or an area. Full article

In cryptocurrency markets, credibility may be created before it can be verified. Promotional signals from influencers, online communities, exchanges, and project actors can create an impression of legitimacy before consumers are able to independently assess the quality, risks, or underlying value of the asset. This systematic review examines how promotional activity contributes to this condition and how the literature connects it with ethical concerns, consumer consequences, and governance. Following PRISMA 2020, 54 empirical studies published between 2019 and 2025 were identified through Scopus and analyzed using thematic synthesis. The findings indicate that promotion is distributed across social media, influencers, communities, exchanges, and project actors, making the boundary between marketing, personal opinion, and financial advice difficult to maintain. Ethical problems arise not only from fraud, but also from selective information, hidden incentives, artificial attention, and market signals that give uncertain assets an appearance of legitimacy. Consumer vulnerability is similarly situational. Knowledge and experience may offer some protection, but trust, technological complexity, social influence, and speculative expectations continue to shape judgement. Regulatory and educational responses remain fragmented because responsibility is dispersed across actors and jurisdictions. The review connects these relationships through an ethical marketing cycle that conceptually organizes how ethical concerns may develop across communication, market activity, consumer interpretation, and governance. This perspective extends ethical marketing beyond the accuracy of individual claims and locates responsibility within the structures through which cryptocurrency credibility is produced. The review is limited by its reliance on Scopus and the absence of a formal risk-of-bias assessment of the included studies. Full article

This study examines how social media platform environments influence adolescent consumer replication behavior specifically within sports content, athletic apparel, and active lifestyles through psychological engagement mechanisms, including parasocial interaction, self-congruence, and perceived source credibility. Drawing on media ecology theory and platform affordance perspectives, the study compares users of YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram. To better capture the complex structural mechanics across platforms, the investigation is guided by empirical research questions rather than simple linear hypotheses. Data were collected from 402 high school students in South Korea who had experience with influencer-based social media content. Respondents were categorized based on their primary platform of engagement. The dataset was analyzed using independent-samples t-tests and Welch’s ANOVA with Games–Howell post-hoc tests to examine differences across gender and platform groups. The results indicate significant gender differences in psychological engagement and behavioral outcomes, with female adolescents showing higher levels of parasocial interaction, self-congruence, and consumer replication behavior than male adolescents. Platform-based comparisons further reveal significant differences across user groups. TikTok users reported higher levels of parasocial interaction, self-congruence, source credibility, and consumer replication behavior compared to Instagram users, while differences between TikTok and YouTube users were observed primarily in consumer replication behavior. Although TikTok users demonstrated the highest mean values across several constructs, the relatively small sample size of this group should be considered when interpreting the robustness of platform-level differences. Overall, the findings suggest that platform affordances shape adolescent psychological engagement and subsequent consumer imitation behaviors beyond mere exposure intensity. This study contributes to social media and behavioral science literature by highlighting how platform-specific environments structure psychological engagement and influence consumer replication processes among adolescent users. Full article

The rapid integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into digital commerce and social structures has created a complex perceptual landscape for consumers. While AI is often associated with efficiency and progress, it simultaneously triggers concerns regarding algorithmic opacity and loss of human control. This study investigates the dual role of digital literacy as a predictor of both perceived utility and consumer scepticism, as well as their subsequent impact on the overall perception of AI as an opportunity or a risk. Using secondary data from a nationally representative German survey on artificial intelligence (GESIS, Study No. ZA8719) and employing Structural Equation Modelling (SEM), the research tests a conceptual framework based on the “Privacy Paradox” and technology acceptance theories. The results reveal that digital literacy significantly enhances the perceived utility of AI while concurrently amplifying consumer scepticism. Furthermore, the study identifies a dominant effect of perceived utility on the overall evaluation of AI, whereas the impact of scepticism remains statistically non-significant. These findings suggest a compensatory mechanism where pragmatic benefits outweigh perceived risks in the consumer’s decision-making process. The paper concludes with strategic implications for digital marketing and e-commerce platforms, emphasizing that value creation is the primary driver for overcoming consumer resistance in the digital era. Full article

Since the 17th century, when illustrations began to appear in children’s schoolbooks, the role of illustrations has undergone a development in concept. It has shifted from a narrow view of illustrations demonstrating the text, as well as lightening up the textual monotony, to a broader view of illustrations as a way of perceiving an additional interpretational layer of the meanings inherent in the text. Concurrently, the hierarchy indicating the supremacy of the written text over the illustrations has been undermined, opening the way to viewing children’s stories as a literary work in which the text and the illustrations conduct a complex relationship, together affecting the addressees’ experiencing of the meaning. After five decades of analyzing picturebooks, there are still some gaps between the research on children’s literature and the research on illustrations, whereby the study of children’s literature mainly deals with the textual aspects of works. The present research offers a model examining the functions of illustrations in children’s literature. The model includes a spectrum of layers located on an axis, which may be termed “the axis of influence”. This spectrum begins with illustrations that are limited to a simple description and adhere to the text, and it reaches illustrations that contrast with the text, accompanying it as a “counterpoint”. The illustrations’ modes of function are divided into three groups. The first group is that of illustrations describing the text faithfully. The second group includes illustrations which expand the meaning by providing layers that do not exist in the text: illustrations describing the space in which the protagonists are located; illustrations portraying the inner world of the protagonists; illustrations explicating complex concepts or themes; inclusive illustrations expanding the cultural and social variety of the characters in the story; and illustrations which promote social or national values. The third group includes illustrations subversive to the text, often even contradicting it or promoting a message that does not necessarily adhere to the contents of the text, thereby providing an independent narrative. The existence of an independent narrative leads to a poetic gap, by which there are two narratives dwelling in the same story. The research examines four types of subversive illustrations: illustrations creating gender correction; the implicative illustrations containing a visual subtext; illustrations casting a new light upon the story’s ending; and illustrations voicing a counterpoint to the content delivered in the text. Full article

Urban regeneration has become a key strategy to address urban decline, infrastructure aging and socio-economic challenges, aiming to enhance quality of life and stimulate local development. Beyond physical renewal, it involves social, cultural and economic dimensions that contribute to the revitalization of communities. Recent literature frames regeneration as an adaptive and multifaceted process, drawing on concepts such as change management, dynamic capabilities and sensemaking to interpret urban transformation as a form of institutional learning. This study adopts a qualitative case study approach focused on the Libertà district in Bari (Italy), using document analysis, field observation, and stakeholder mapping to investigate both tangible and intangible outcomes of regeneration policies. Particular attention is devoted to understanding how socio-institutional and spatial transformations are translated into economic outcomes, using residential property values as an exploratory indicator of economic change. In this regard, variations in residential property values are considered as an exploratory indicator of economic dynamics associated with regeneration, while acknowledging that property price increases do not necessarily correspond to benefits for all community members and may also reflect issues related to affordability and social displacement. The findings suggest that regeneration should be understood as a coordinated and collaborative process involving multiple stakeholders and institutional actors. The analysis highlights the relevance of cultural initiatives, stakeholder interactions and changes in the physical environment as key elements of the transformation process. Furthermore, the study discusses the extent to which changes in the local real estate market may be associated with broader regeneration dynamics, recognizing the limitations of establishing direct causal relationships. Overall, the research proposes an original perspective on urban regeneration as a learning-based and organizational process in which social, institutional, and spatial transformations interact with economic change in complex and context-dependent ways. Full article

Social media influences community social issues in varied ways, yet their effects on teenage pregnancy remain uncertain. The purpose of this study is to explore how social media and human experiences are entangled in shaping teenage pregnancy in the Capricorn district of South Africa. Bandura’s social learning theory was used to determine the interplay between observation, imitation, social media modelling, peers, and society’ influences on teenage pregnancy. This study used a qualitative approach, engaging 34 Non-Governmental Organisations through purposive and convenience sampling and small focus groups to achieve saturation, examining how digital technologies and human experiences influence teenage pregnancy in Africa. Data analysis followed the Naeem, Ozuem, Howell, and Ranfagni thematic analysis six-step process. Two themes emerged: pervasive influences and positive influences of social media. Five sub-themes emerged supporting the pervasive and positive influences, that is, normalisation of risky sexual behaviours and experimentation; peer pressure influences and cyberbullying; promotion of gender-based violence and vulnerability; provision of adequate sexual education; and the consequences and promotion of supporting networks. Social media both supports and harms adolescents, influencing teenage pregnancy through its educational value and risky behavioural modelling. Positive role models can reduce vulnerability, while insights from this study guide policymakers, communities, and researchers in addressing social media’s complex effects on teenage pregnancy. Full article

Based on three years of sustained personal observations and extensive on-site interviews, this study is the first to investigate the bird totem worship customs of the Dong ethnic minority in southeast Guizhou, China. The Dong-inhabited regions of southeast Guizhou possess a long-standing tradition of bird totem worship, which has permeated every aspect of local people’s daily life, serving as a living museum where ancient bird totem worship continues to thrive in the present day. Through investigation and research, we can clearly perceive that bird totem worship here is no longer merely evidence of primitive thinking as previously discussed in academic circles, nor is it an endangered intangible cultural heritage. Instead, it represents emotional resonance with a more modern spirit and open-ended identity construction. Faced with the era of the internet and new media, they have broken free from the constraints of totem concepts and taboos, instead embracing creative totem will, totem activities, totem behaviors, and intelligent totems, thereby endowing totems with new belief content and forms of expression. They have transcended the preconceived concepts and fixed thinking about totems in academic discourse, making it an important vehicle for maintaining community relations, strengthening ethnic solidarity, inheriting ethnic culture, and continuing local civilization. Through the contemporary reconstruction of collective behavior, the traffic empowerment of internet short videos, and complex functional transformations, they have constructed a brand-new totem value system in the context of the internet and new media era, organizing a multi-dimensional, comprehensive social ecological view and civilizational value system. It is precisely through this continuous evolution, expansion, and activation in response to changing times that totems have acquired sustained vitality and creativity, providing a vivid case study for the contemporary transformation and creative development of ancient totemic beliefs. This is also the significant importance of field investigation—it enables us to gain entirely new value cognition and different theoretical perspectives from the living site of totem practices. Full article