Search Results (178)

Internal fins are commonly utilized as a passive technique to enhance natural convection, but their efficiency depends on complex interplay between fin design, material properties, and convective strength. This study presents an extensive numerical analysis of buoyancy-driven flow in square cavities containing a single horizontal fin on the hot wall. Over 9000 simulations were conducted, methodically varying the Rayleigh number (Ra = 10 to 10⁵), Prandtl number (Pr = 0.1 to 10), and fin characteristics, such as length, vertical position, thickness, and the thermal conductivity ratio (up to 1000), to assess their overall impact on thermal efficiency. Thermal enhancements compared to scenarios without fins are quantified using local and average Nusselt numbers, as well as a Nusselt number ratio (NNR). The results reveal that, contrary to conventional beliefs, long fins positioned centrally can actually decrease heat transfer by up to 11.8% at high Ra and Pr due to the disruption of thermal plumes and diminished circulation. Conversely, shorter fins located near the cavity’s top and bottom wall edges can enhance the Nusselt numbers for the hot wall by up to 8.4%, thereby positively affecting the development of thermal boundary layers. A U-shaped Nusselt number distribution related to fin placement appears at Ra ≥ 10³, where edge-aligned fins consistently outperform those positioned mid-height. The benefits of high-conductivity fins become increasingly nonlinear at larger Ra, with advantages limited to designs that minimally disrupt core convective patterns. These findings challenge established notions regarding passive thermal enhancement and provide a predictive thermogeometric framework for designing enclosures. The results can be directly applied to passive cooling systems in electronics, battery packs, solar thermal collectors, and energy-efficient buildings, where optimizing heat transfer is vital without employing active control methods. Full article

Background/Objectives: Muscle dysmorphia (MD), a subtype of body dysmorphic disorder, is prevalent among males who engage in the non-medical use of anabolic–androgenic steroids (AASs) and performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs). These individuals often experience severe psychopathology, including mood instability, compulsivity, and a distorted body image. Despite its clinical severity, no randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have evaluated structured psychological treatments in this subgroup. This study aimed to assess the efficacy of a manualized cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) protocol in reducing MD symptoms and associated psychological distress among male steroid users. Results: Participants in the CBT group showed significant reductions in MD symptoms from the baseline to post-treatment (MDDI: p < 0.001, d = 1.12), with gains sustained at follow-up. Large effect sizes were also observed in secondary outcomes including depressive symptoms (PHQ-9: d = 0.98), psychological distress (K10: d = 0.93), disordered eating (EDE-Q: d = 0.74), and exercise addiction (EAI: d = 1.07). No significant changes were observed in the control group. Significant group × time interactions were found for all outcomes (all p < 0.01), indicating CBT’s specific efficacy. Discussion: This study provides the first RCT evidence that CBT significantly reduces both core MD symptoms and steroid-related psychopathology in men engaged in AAS/PED misuse. Improvements extended to mood, body image perception, and compulsive exercise behaviors. These findings support CBT’s transdiagnostic applicability in addressing both the cognitive–behavioral and affective dimensions of MD. Materials and Methods: In this parallel-group, open-label RCT, 59 male gym-goers with DSM-5-TR diagnoses of MD and a history of AAS/PED use were randomized to either a 12-week CBT intervention (n = 30) or a waitlist control group (n = 29). CBT sessions were delivered weekly online and targeted distorted muscularity beliefs, compulsive behaviors, and emotional dysregulation. Primary and secondary outcomes—Muscle Dysmorphic Disorder Inventory (MDDI), PHQ-9, K10, EDE-Q, EAI, and BIG—were assessed at the baseline, post-treatment, and 3-month follow-up. A repeated-measures ANOVA and paired t-tests were used to analyze time × group interactions. Conclusions: CBT offers an effective, scalable intervention for individuals with muscle dysmorphia complicated by anabolic steroid use. It promotes broad psychological improvement and may serve as a first-line treatment option in high-risk male fitness populations. Future studies should examine long-term outcomes and investigate implementation in diverse clinical and cultural contexts. Full article

As Artificial Intelligence systems increasingly surpass or replace traditional human roles, institutions founded on beliefs in human cognitive superiority, moral authority, and procedural oversight encounter a more profound challenge than mere disruption: expiration. This paper posits that, instead of being outperformed, many legacy institutions are becoming epistemically misaligned with the realities of AI-driven environments. To clarify this change, the paper presents the Expiration Theory. This conceptual model interprets institutional collapse not as a market failure but as the erosion of fundamental assumptions amid technological shifts. In addition, the paper introduces the AI Pressure Clock, a diagnostic tool that categorizes institutions based on their vulnerability to AI disruption and their capacity to adapt to it. Through an analysis across various sectors, including law, healthcare, education, finance, and the creative industries, the paper illustrates how specific systems are nearing functional obsolescence while others are actively restructuring their foundational norms. As a conceptual study, the paper concludes by highlighting the theoretical, policy, and leadership ramifications, asserting that institutional survival in the age of AI relies not solely on digital capabilities but also on the capacity to redefine the core principles of legitimacy, authority, and decision-making. Full article

Over the last couple of decades, philosophers have been drawing on ideas from Wittgenstein’s late work On Certainty in developing an approach to epistemology known as “hinge epistemology.” Hinge epistemology has been of particular interest to philosophers of religion because it considers the role that deep commitments to particular propositions may have within epistemic life, arguably mirroring what is seen in some religious traditions. The issue that motivates the present article is whether or to what extent it is helpful to think of forms of atheism as being grounded in hinge commitments. After considering various forms of atheism, this article advances the view that there are some forms of atheism that do exhibit core grounding commitments that may be helpfully interpreted as hinges. In developing this argument, the article considers two case studies of apparent atheistic hinges: the “secular faith” of Martin Hägglund and expressions of atheism one may find in contemporary Chinese society. While many atheistic beliefs are contingent upon still more fundamental epistemic commitments, some forms of atheism may be held strongly or with such a sense of import that interpretation by means of the notion of hinge commitment will be illuminating. Full article

Belief change is a core component of intelligent reasoning, enabling agents to adapt their beliefs in response to new information. A prominent form of belief change is belief revision, which involves altering an agent’s beliefs about a static (unchanging) world in light of new evidence. A foundational framework for modeling rational belief revision was introduced by Alchourrón, Gärdenfors, and Makinson (AGM), who formalized revision functions based on total preorders over possible worlds—that is, orderings that encode the relative plausibility of alternative states of affairs. Building on this, Peppas and Williams later characterized AGM-style revision functions using weaker preference structures known as semiorders, which, unlike total preorders, permit intransitive indifference between alternatives. In this article, we extend the framework of Peppas and Williams to the context of belief update. In contrast to belief revision, belief update concerns maintaining coherent beliefs in response to actual changes in a dynamic, evolving environment. We provide both axiomatic and semantic characterizations of update functions derived from semiorders, establishing corresponding representation theorems. These results essentially generalize the classical belief-update framework of Katsuno and Mendelzon, which relies on total preorders, thereby offering a broader and more flexible perspective. The intransitivity of indifference inherent in semiorders plays a central role in our framework, enabling the representation of nuanced plausibility distinctions between possible states of affairs—an essential feature for realistically modeling belief dynamics. Full article

Research on religion and migration has often focused on institutions and belief systems, while overlooking how mediation links migrants, sacred objects, rituals, and religious imaginaries. This study advances mediation as a core analytic in religion–migration studies by examining the practices of ten Thai migrant students in South Korea through semi-structured interviews on Buddhist amulets, Hindu deity pendants, Catholic rosaries, merit-making, and the elevation of sacred objects. Guided by Meyer’s religion-as-mediation framework and Taylor’s concept of the social imaginary, the analysis shows that quotidian, embodied engagements with sacred objects mediate and materialize Thai Buddhist–Animist imaginaries in Korean settings, expanding, transnationalizing, and hybridizing them through encounters with the host environment. These practices not only sustain spiritual continuity, but also generate sacred transnational social spaces that bridge both the ontological divide between the human and the transcendent and the geographical divide between Thailand and Korea. Rather than being preserved through institutional affiliation, migrant religiosity is continually reconstituted through everyday embodied practices of mediation that render the sacred experientially real in the host society. By foregrounding mediation, this study offers a reconceptualization of migrant religion as an embodied, material, and world-making process—one through which migrants actively reimagine and inhabit sacred spaces across borders. Full article

The article explores the concept of family language policy in relation to heritage languages and child agency in the context of Latvian as a heritage language. Its aim is to find out what role Latvian may have in relation to other languages within the core families in the diaspora, as well as in communication with their extended families in Latvia. For this, we investigate which language beliefs and attitudes underlie those language practices and examine children’s engagement in family language management. Our research is based on 20 in-depth interviews collected in 2023. Respondents were recruited through the distance online learning program “Latvian as a foreign language teacher” created for the Latvian diaspora and through Saturday (community) schools. The main research questions are as follows: What role does Latvian have in relation to other languages in Latvian diasporic families, and how do language practices reflect beliefs and attitudes of the parents? Which languages and which communication channels are used by diasporic families in communication with their (extended) families in Latvia? What impact do children have on family language policies? Our data show a huge diversity in family language practices, switching between two and more languages depending on communicative situations, the age of children, their language proficiency, and the communication channels. Family members flexibly use their languages to participate in family life and to achieve interactional goals, not always focusing just on particular language use. Heritage language transmission correlates with family language planning and consequent language use. On the other hand, language is tightly tied to the relationships and emotions of family members. Full article

Psychology is a core discipline in understanding why and how individuals choose to engage in sustainable action. This paper uses social representations theory to explore the rising use of eco/green prefixes for psychology concepts through a critical analysis of the concept of eco/green fatigue. It argues that this term, which originated in the world of popular online news media, has typically been treated in academic psychology discussions using existing psychology concepts in the same way as eco-anxiety and eco-grief, which hides important features of the phenomenon that need to be better understood. The paper presents an analysis of eco-fatigue based on a critical review of the existing psychology literature, qualitative online archival analyses, and an exploratory quantitative survey study. The survey study was conducted with a sample of 182 students and non-students and analysed using principal components and cluster analysis. The paper provides evidence that simply adding an eco/green prefix to an existing psychology concept without a systematic empirical investigation into the phenomenon can result in overly simplistic conceptual frameworks that do not lead to sound practical conclusions. A preliminary empirical examination of the social representation of eco-fatigue in the public arena suggested that inappropriate sustainability messaging and bad business behaviour may be more of a barrier to sustainability action than the beliefs or attitudes held by individuals. Full article

Toolbox Talks are widely adopted and valued by supervisors and safety managers as a core component of occupational safety and health training, yet their effectiveness as an intervention has not been systematically evaluated in the peer-reviewed literature. Persistently high rates of occupational fatalities and injuries, particularly among high-risk industries, compounded by an increasingly diverse workforce, involving linguistic diversity, high turnover, and mobile job sites, highlight the urgent need for evidence-based approaches to safety training. This scoping review addresses this gap by examining the effectiveness of Toolbox Talks as an occupational safety intervention through three guiding questions focused on their reported impact, implementation challenges, and the best practices and delivery methods that enhance their effectiveness. The Adult Learning Theory served as the framework to assess evidence-based studies. Four bibliographic databases were used to search for studies published between 2000 and 2024. Data were charted based on effectiveness, measured as outcomes, and categorized as any combination of safety knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, behavior, or health outcomes. Unforeseen challenges and recommended best practices were gleaned from each study to provide additional insight. A total of fourteen (14) studies met our inclusion criteria, with the majority centered on construction workplaces (n = 10). Reported effectiveness outcome measures were positive across all studies, with notable improvements in workers’ safety knowledge. Training challenges encountered included worker disengagement, language diversity, and production pressures. Recommended best practices for increasing Toolbox Talk training effectiveness included conducting regularly scheduled training, engaging workers, training supervisors, and providing culturally appropriate and tailored materials. While Toolbox Talks demonstrate significant potential to enhance workplace safety, their effectiveness is hinged on the quality of content and delivery methods, particularly when aligned with adult learning principles that emphasize relevance, engagement, and experimental learning. Future research should explore how emerging technologies, such as e-learning platforms, combined with cultural inclusive approaches and long-term impact assessments, can optimize the design and implementation of Toolbox Talks across diverse occupational settings. Full article

This participatory action research study identified concrete responsive teaching practices that create sustainable, inclusive environments for vulnerable youth, focusing on two primary research questions: (1) How do teacher–pupil interactions shape learning experiences, and (2) What specific responsive practices create sustainable, inclusive environments? Thematic analysis of data from eight teacher candidates, eight cooperating teachers, and seven pupils revealed a clear typology of sustainable, responsive practices organized into three core categories. The first category, the socioemotional response category, encompasses crucial practices including boundary-balanced relationships (creating safe spaces with clear expectations), ability-focused trust (communicating persistent belief in pupils’ capabilities), and non-abandonment approaches (illustrating unwavering commitment to each pupil regardless of challenges). The second category, the pedagogical response category, captured two essential practices: individualized learning adaptations (tailoring instruction to specific pupil needs) and strategic instructional pausing (recognizing when emotional needs must precede academic content). The third category, the systemic response category, highlighted the importance of collaborative professional networks, where mutual support among educators creates resilient teaching environments that enhance pupil outcomes. These findings underscore how responsive teacher–pupil interactions create inclusive environments that meet pupils’ academic, social, and emotional needs while fostering sustainable educational practices. This research contributes to sustainable education by (1) operationalizing responsiveness into actionable components for practice, (2) illustrating how sustainable, responsive teaching develops through structured collaborative inquiry, and (3) providing a framework showing how responsive relationships specifically support vulnerable youth in inclusive settings. The emerging themes illuminate how empathetic, responsive relationships build sustainable, inclusive learning environments empowering all participants for long-term development. Full article

The Western Regions during the Han and Tang Dynasties served as a significant cultural intersection along the Silk Road, with stupas acting as core architectural forms of Buddhist dissemination, embodying religious, cultural, and artistic evolution. This study is a research article based on typological analysis, integrating historical documents and archaeological site data to explore the stylistic evolution of stupa architecture in the Western Regions during the Han and Tang Dynasties, revealing the changes in religious beliefs and the process of cultural adaptation and integration of Buddhism in a multicultural context. The study demonstrates that the distribution of stupas shifted from being concentrated in areas such as Shanshan and Shule during the Han Dynasty to expanding across a wider region during the Wei, Jin, and Northern and Southern Dynasties, eventually forming a Gaochang-centered pattern in the Tang Dynasty. Architectural styles evolved from the simplicity of domed stupas to diversification and then to standardization. The number of niches increased from none to many before decreasing again, while the proportions of the stupa bases gradually increased. This evolution highlights the transition of stupa styles from a singular form to diversification, eventually achieving standardization in the Tang Dynasty. This transformation not only reflects the optimization of the temple layout, gradually shifting from a stupa-centered to a Buddha hall-centered structure, but also illustrates the evolution of stupas from symbols of the Buddha’s tomb to carriers for Buddha statues and ultimately to representations of the Mount Sumeru cosmological concept. This transition also mirrors the shift in Buddhist beliefs, evolving from Theravāda to Mahāyāna Buddhism and then returning to Theravāda practices. This not only facilitated the regionalization of stupa forms and the integration of artistic styles but also provided a significant medium for cultural exchange between China and the West. Full article

In the pursuit of an authentic Christian experience, particularly among young people, it is essential to focus on reconfiguring what constitutes a true Christian identity. This entails a deep immersion in the lived experience of faith, with particular emphasis on the liturgical encounter, along with the signs and symbols employed in the experience. In the face of innumerable challenges partly precipitated by contemporary society and culture, such an engagement can foster a genuine experience of Christian life, encouraging young people to embrace authenticity while maintaining a focus on core beliefs and identity markers as they are lived and experienced. Consequently, the liturgical experience enhances the mystagogical journey, allowing young people to reflect on their identity as active participants in the faith. This intentional focus enables them to perceive faith as a true and defining marker of their identity as Christians. Full article

The aim of this paper is to critically analyse the structure of religious beliefs and practices in Spain today. In order to approach this task, we have developed a research design that revolves around two analytical cores. The first is of a more descriptive–argumentative nature, where we present the Spanish religious reality by studying available data from relevant statistical sources, specifically, the Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas and the Observatorio del Pluralismo Religioso. The second is of a more critical–reflexive nature, where we establish whether the available data offer an effectively exhaustive view of the Spanish religious reality in a post-secular context—that is, whether it reflects the existing scenario of religious pluralism, diversity and heterogeneity or whether, on the contrary, it merely reinforces dynamics linked to the General Theory of Secularization, emphasizing narratives that focus on the crisis of the religious and on the incompatibility between the religious and the secular. Full article

This paper examines the practice of ‘Bible Noise’, a group which I led at a Church of England evangelical church that explored creative ways of reading aloud the Bible through sound art practice. Biblical engagement is central to evangelicals and I wanted to expand biblical engagement by using sonic performances through the use of our voices, thereby facilitating a more bodily encounter with scripture. ‘Noise’ in the group name alludes to the disruption that sound can generate and also alludes to the ‘noise’ of multivocality, since the Bible has many voices in it from authors, narrative characters, editors, compilers, translators, interpreters and so on. The ‘noise’ is also a disruption of the visual primacy of our current culture. Bible Noise explores ways in which different voices can be brought in to enrich our aural engagement with scripture by exploring five different ‘pieces’ or readings of scripture. In doing so it establishes a communal idea of scripture where the different voices within scripture can be heard, paying attention to their particularities. Listening to these voices and our own embodied enactment of them can enrich and deepen our perception and engagement of scripture by appreciating the chorus of voices that is the Bible, the collection of texts that forms a core of British evangelical practice and belief. Full article

The problem of iterated belief revision, which concerns how rational agents modify their beliefs in response to new information over time, lies at the core of understanding rational belief change. This article examines the interplay between the following two prominent frameworks for iterated belief revision: the qualitative Darwiche and Pearl’s approach (abbrev. DP approach) and the quantitative Spohn conditionalization. In particular, we prove that the DP approach is too liberal (under-constrained) to capture Spohn’s conditionalization (confined to revision scenarios); hence, the former cannot be regarded as a precise qualitative counterpart of the latter. Against this background, we provide insights into the essential semantic constraints on total preorders over the possible worlds needed to strengthen the DP approach and achieve alignment with Spohn’s method. Full article