Search Results (47)

Architecture exists at a moment of instability as economic forces narrow professional agency, as knowledge domains challenge disciplinary boundaries, and as calls for decolonisation and sustainability demand epistemological reorientation. Architectural education occupies a strategic position within these dynamics, simultaneously shaped by professional uncertainty and actively constructing alternative futures. This article examines contemporary architectural education as an experiential lens through which a perceptive understanding of how the discipline negotiates transformation can be developed. It draws on a global survey of 345 architecture schools across 159 countries, conducted by the Architectural Education Commission of the International Union of Architects (UIA), and investigates institutional responses to economic constraints, transdisciplinarity, technological transformation, labour precarity, and ethical imperatives. Employing a nine-dimensional framework and six thematic lenses to map global patterns, the findings reveal a convergence–divergence paradox where schools converge around studio pedagogy (78%), national accreditation (92%), and professional degrees (62%), while diverging substantially in thematic priorities. Near-universal engagement with allied disciplines (99%) and SDG integration (88%) contrast sharply with limited efforts at decolonisation (29%) and a health focus (26%), revealing selective adoption of key ethical imperatives. The analysis unveils systematic gaps between declared commitments and enacted practices, with high adoption rates masking shallow implementation, a pattern evidenced by the gap between near-universal SDG declarations (88%) and the persistence of individual-authorship assessment structures (76–78%). Regional patterns reflect resource stratification, reinforcing colonial or dominant knowledge hierarchies. The study concludes that architecture’s agency remains constrained where schools perform transformation rhetorically while reproducing conventional professional formation structurally. Full article

Whether the enactment effect benefits from motor information activation is a key concern in action memory; meanwhile, the degree of enactability may influence this activation. Accordingly, this study aims to examine the explanatory role of motor information reactivation in the enactment effect and to further clarify whether a certain degree of motor information activation is necessary for this effect to emerge. To this end, we manipulated the degree of enactability and separately investigated its impact on the enactment effect at the encoding stage (Experiment 1) and the retrieval stage (Experiment 2). Experiment 1 required participants to either silently read phrases or both silently read and physically enact the actions represented by the phrases during encoding. The research showed that an enactment effect was only observed for the high-enactability-phrases condition, but not for the low-enactability-phrases condition. Experiment 2 additionally required participants to either verbally recall (verbal retrieval) or verbally recall while simultaneously performing corresponding actions (enactment retrieval) during retrieval. The findings showed that under the verbal retrieval condition, the enactment effect was observed for the high-enactability-phrases condition but not for the low-enactability-phrases condition; under the enactment retrieval condition, the enactment effect was observed both for the high-enactability phrases and low-enactability-phrases conditions. Thus, motor information activation during encoding and retrieval is crucial for the enactment effect, which emerges only when motor information activation reaches a threshold, supporting and expanding motor information reactivation theory. Full article

The relationship between rural Christianity and the Chinese ethical conception of interpersonal relationships has long been a central concern in scholarly research. Existing studies often frame the two as antagonistic or argue that the Christian configuration of interpersonal relationships is a mere continuation of the traditional differential mode of association (chaxu geju). However, these perspectives often neglect local Christians’ own ethno-theology and its praxis, rendering the cultural transformations brought about by conversion invisible. Focusing on the ordinary ethics of rural Christians and based on long-term fieldwork in Shui County (a pseudonym), a rural region at the junction of Jiangsu, Shandong, Henan and Anhui provinces in China, this study reveals that Christianity instantiates a dual moral authority system within believers’ daily practices: “centripetal authority” and “centrifugal authority”. The former emphasizes inner sincerity, granting believers a degree of moral autonomy. The latter establishes a divine foundation for believers’ social relations. Employing anthropologist Marcel Mauss’s theory of gift to analyze the interaction between two types of authority in the ordinary ethics of believers, this study finds that rural Christianity both consolidates and expands pre-existing, local relational configurations. The extent of this cultural transformation is closely correlated with the depth of the divine–human relationship. Consequently, Christianity’s relationship with traditional Chinese ethics transcends binary oppositions between antagonism and continuity, instead enacting a creative reconfiguration. Full article

Household food waste is a major source of economic loss and environmental impact, but it is unclear whether interventions can successfully reduce food waste. Thus, the current study evaluated two interventions designed to change food waste-related behaviors and reduce food waste in the context of U.S. households. We tested these interventions via an online study of 1494 households, wherein individuals were randomized to three informational conditions (a “save money” message, a “holistic” message, or a “control” message) and two behavioral conditions (set implementation intentions or do not set implementation intentions). The results showed that informational interventions had minimal impact on food waste-related behaviors, only reducing the degree to which households wasted food due to date labels. Conversely, the behavioral intervention had a stronger impact on food waste-related behaviors: households enacted higher levels of efficient food acquisition behaviors, less frequently wasted food due to date labels, and enacted more efficient leftover usage behaviors. However, although these behaviors are related to food waste, neither intervention significantly reduced household food waste. Therefore, whereas behavioral interventions appear to be more promising than informational interventions alone, it appears that household food waste reduction is a more challenging endeavor than previously thought. We discuss implications of our results and a number of future research directions. Full article

Objectives: Experiences of racial discrimination within the healthcare system are potentially traumatic events (PTEs) that have been associated with lowered perceived trust in healthcare providers, ongoing symptoms of PTSD and depression, and anticipated healthcare avoidance. Based on the BITTEN trauma impact model, we test a pathway such that greater past healthcare discrimination would be associated with anticipated future healthcare avoidance among BIPOC college students. We posited that this direct relationship would be sequentially mediated by healthcare institutional betrayal (HIB) during one’s worst healthcare event and subsequently reduced trust in healthcare. Methods: Our model was tested in a subsample of undergraduate students, all of whom self-identified with at least one minoritized racial or ethnic identity (n = 472). Participants reported on their past experiences with racial discrimination in healthcare. Each then chose and described their worst and/or most traumatic previous healthcare experience. Subsequently, they indicated if this experience included acts of HIB and/or led to medical mistrust. Finally, they reported on the degree to which they anticipated engaging in future healthcare avoidance. Results: Our model explained 31% of the variance in anticipated healthcare avoidance. As hypothesized via BITTEN, greater HIB during one’s worst or most traumatic healthcare experience and resulting mistrust in healthcare sequentially mediated the relationship between past experiences of healthcare racial discrimination and anticipated future healthcare avoidance. However, a direct relationship between racial discrimination in healthcare and anticipated healthcare avoidance was retained. Conclusions: Racial discrimination is a potentially traumatic experience associated with deleterious health outcomes. Current results suggest that healthcare discrimination may drive BIPOC college students’ future healthcare avoidance both directly and through experiencing increased healthcare institutional betrayal during one’s worst healthcare experience and resultant mistrust in healthcare. Due to the crucial role both discrimination and HIB experiences may play in healthcare outcomes, greater organizational adoption of anti-racist trauma-informed healthcare and the enactment of deliberate system-level repair strategies post discrimination and/or HIB is critical. Understanding the interplay of racial discrimination, HIB, and medical mistrust is also likely to help us address and repair system-level factors leading to anticipated healthcare avoidance behavior among BIPOC emerging adults. Full article

During the COVID-19 epidemic, countries enacted autonomous measures to suspend long-distance travel. As a result, people used online platforms to share perspectives and disseminate their knowledge and skills. Internet learning content thus emerged as a primary solution. This study was conducted to assess the reactions of users to virtual tours. Participants were introduced to the 360-degree panoramic photography system of cultural monuments of the Taipei City Government and participated in an online cultural tour. A closed-ended questionnaire was distributed for their response. After compiling data from 31 participants, we analyzed the link between users’ demographic characteristics and their satisfaction levels with the online panoramic tour system. We discovered higher satisfaction rates of people with incomes exceeding that of the average participant. 83% of participants stated a willingness to explore scenic attractions virtually instead of physically traveling when unable to do so. The results of this study contribute to understanding the context of users’ post-visit satisfaction. The information gathered can be used to improve cultural heritage websites in terms of design, navigation, and cultural education, enabling virtual access to cultural sites and enriching users’ knowledge from home. Full article

This study delves into the problem-solving approaches of students who attend classes with traditional teaching methods in university physics education with innovative curriculum materials. This research, conducted with university physics and engineering students, focused on applying research-based curriculum materials in solving kinematic problems. The study analyzes the impact of student knowledge and the distinction between rote learning and scientific practices on conceptual understanding. Student responses are categorized based on the depth of knowledge demonstrated, the skill type utilized, and the degree to which responses indicate a logical progression. These, together with demographic data, are analyzed to determine any patterns. Findings reveal that students use intuitive and mathematical skills to solve a graphical question. However, students employ qualitative and mathematical skill types when they are required to design an experiment. Notably, gender disparity appears to influence the approach to graphical questions, but the design-based question shows no significant relationship between males and females. Gender was likely to contribute to knowledge and logical progression levels, but grades might not show a positive relationship with knowledge level. This study aims to contribute to developing physics education at the university level by highlighting the gap between innovative course materials and their enactment. Full article

The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly reshaped life across the globe, significantly influencing the future of housing. The enactment and densification of diverse activities within one place have resulted in varying degrees of conflict between the built and social environment. This conflict is directly related to the degree of housing adaptability to new life, work, and leisure conditions. Movement restrictions and distance learning have significantly impacted the young population, which is susceptible to ‘enforced togetherness’ conditions. However, studies on post-pandemic housing in Serbia are rare. This paper investigates the relationship between the built and social environment, focusing on current trends in multi-family housing from the perspective of the progressive change of life standards in the post-pandemic era. It also includes a survey of the living conditions of architecture students in Serbia during lockdown and distance learning, offering insights into the impact of the physical environment on virus transmission and social dynamics. The main objective of this study is to formulate guidelines for developing a resilient housing model in Serbia that will address both current and future crises. From the findings, it can be concluded that radical changes in housing policy are necessary to enable less interdependence among layers within the system striving to be resilient. Full article

It has long been stated that children have the rights to protection from, e.g., abuse and to the provision of age-appropriate leisure, play, and recreational activities along with participation in all matters that concerns them. Yet, the full range of children’s rights to and in sport has not yet been explored in detail. To do so, it is relevant to turn to the Scandinavian countries, which are praised for promoting children’s rights and well-being, with organized sport forming part of the daily lives of many children and youths. In this paper, we examine the organizational policies in Scandinavian sport in order to develop foundational knowledge about how the range of children’s rights to and in sport may be supported. Comparing key policy documents of the major sports confederations in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, these analyses identify great variety in the following: 1. when and how children’s rights to and in sport have been made explicit in the three countries; 2. whether the emphasis is on protection and/or provision of sport to children and youths or their participation in shaping sporting activities; 3. the degree to and ways in which such rights are regulated. In sum, our findings reflect a disparity between organizational policies in the three countries, with a more liberal and individualistic approach to public policy in the Danish context, providing some explanation of the only recent development in and scattered enaction of regulations to support children’s rights to and in sports. Furthermore, we identify that political attention has mainly been drawn to the protection and provision of sports to children and youths, while their participation in shaping sport is a shared challenge for sport confederations in the Scandinavian countries and beyond. Full article

Query optimization is one of the key factors affecting the performance of database systems that aim to enact the query execution plan with minimum cost. Particularly in distributed database systems, due to the multiple copies of the data that are stored in different data nodes, resulting in the dramatic increase in the feasible query execution plans for a query statement. Because of the increasing volume of stored data, the cluster size of distributed databases also increases, resulting in poor performance of current query optimization algorithms. In this case, a dynamic perturbation-based artificial bee colony algorithm is proposed to solve the query optimization problem in distributed database systems. The improved artificial bee colony algorithm improves the global search capability by combining the selection, crossover, and mutation operators of the genetic algorithm to overcome the problem of falling into the local optimal solution easily. At the same time, the dynamic perturbation factor is introduced so that the algorithm parameters can be dynamically varied along with the process of iteration as well as the convergence degree of the whole population to improve the convergence efficiency of the algorithm. Finally, comparative experiments conducted to assess the average execution cost of Top-k query plans generated by the algorithms and the convergence speed of algorithms under the conditions of query statements in six different dimension sets. The results demonstrate that the Top-k query plans generated by the proposed method have a lower execution cost and a faster convergence speed, which can effectively improve the query efficiency. However, this method requires more execution time. Full article

Translingual students’ identities transcend multiple languages and cultural allegiances. Sociolinguistics widely discusses the linguistic and racial oppressions these students face in schools due to epistemic racism, which is often observed in the tension between their multilingual and multimodal communicative styles and language perspectives rooted in monolingual and monocultural ideologies. This paper expands on the literature that denounces epistemic racism, uses Raciolinguistics and New Literacy Studies as theoretical frameworks, and reports on the following inquiries: What are the characteristics of delegitimizing school stakeholders who become agents of epistemic racism in their interactions with translingual students? How do translingual students reject these agents’ marginalization? Critical focus groups, semi-structured and arts-based interviews, and emplaced observations were used to collect data, centering the identities and voices of participants. Two key findings emerged. First, school stakeholders with various roles, social power, and degree of impact epitomize epistemic racism through ideological discourses. Second, “Translinguals” resist through novel concepts for which I have coined the terms "Covert and Overt Transresistance,” enacted by the means of resisting transliteracies. The theoretical, research, and practical implications of these findings, along with recommendations for future research, are discussed. Full article

In the field of horror film studies, the question of trauma is generally related to the spectator’s experience. The trauma of images occurs in the context of socio-cultural actualization. The degree of violence involved in the images, either graphic or symbolic, implies an experience that marks the viewer. Trauma, in this way, acts as a sensitive degree of perception, the image being an event. We start from this theoretical point but decide to take as our object of study only films where the horrific experience is based on a figurative representation of trauma. Therefore, we want to detach ourselves from a symbolic reading of the horrific image, leaving aside the psychological implications of the image’s effect. We decide to adopt a phenomenological and enactive reading of the image in order to include our spectatorial sensations in the narrative and aesthetic analysis of the representations issues of trauma as a horrific experience. Thus, in our corpus, trauma does not intervene in the cognitive formation of the spectator but is built into the experience of the filmic corpse according to a visual and narrative continuity specific to the films. We designate two types of traumatic events that occur in the corpus films: Halloween II; Friday the 13th: A New Beginning. We try to understand the emergence of the traumatic feeling within the spectator and demonstrate that the trauma experienced by the viewer arises from the horrific experience specific to the aesthetic and narrative aims of the films, mirroring the symptoms and the wounds of the characters. Full article

Background and aim: Because they are unaware of the potential adverse effects of medications, people frequently self-medicate as a form of self-care. This study aimed to investigate the factors associated with health literacy and the propensity to self-medicate among the primary healthcare clientele of the city of Hail, Saudi Arabia. Methods: This research employed a cross-sectional approach with the participation of 383 primary health center clientele of the Hail Region of Saudi Arabia. Participation was enacted via convenience sampling from December 2022 to February 2023. The data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire. The investigation utilized descriptive statistics as well as multiple linear regression and correlation for the data analysis. Results: Participants who were aged 30 years and above, single, had a college degree, were non-Saudi, had a white-collar occupation and received information from the internet/Google/YouTube had a significant relationship (p < 0.05) with health literacy. On the self-medication scale (SMS), there were significant relationships with age, marital status, educational level and occupation (p < 0.05). The nationality and source of information factors related to health had a positively significant effect on health literacy (p < 0.01), while middle age (24–29 years) had a positive effect on the self-medication scores (p < 0.01). There was a significant positive correlation between the health literacy screening scale (BRIEF) and the self-medication scale (SMS) scores (r = 421, p < 0.001). Conclusion: Age of 30 years old or above, single status, a college degree, non-Saudi status, white-collar occupation and receiving information from the internet/Google/YouTube were all significant for health literacy. There were also significant relationships with the SMS scores for age, marital status, educational level and occupation. The factors affecting health literacy were older participant age, nationality and the source of information regarding health. Conversely, among the participants, being in the middle-aged group (24–29 years) was a factor that affected their self-medication scores. There was a significant positive correlation between the health literacy screening scale (BRIEF) and the self-medication scale (SMS). Full article

The objective was to review all peer-reviewed, scholarly articles on the mental health of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 2005 to 2022. Forty-six studies were identified. Research findings were consistent with the general research on R/S and mental health, which typically finds R/S related to better mental health. When comparisons are made, Latter-day Saints are typically found to have better mental health than those of other religions or no religion. It was found that in the last 10 years, research on sexual minorities has dominated the research on Latter-day Saints’ mental health. Although findings are nuanced, sexual minorities tend to have less favorable mental health when they are only somewhat enacting either a Latter-day Saint and/or sexual minority identity. The research literature on Latter-day Saints’ mental health is in its infancy, with few studies utilizing a high degree of methodologic rigor. More longitudinal and representative research is needed to better understand Latter-day Saints’ mental health. Further, more theoretical work is needed to provide a framework for explaining findings and guiding future research. Full article

Dream-enactment behavior that emerges during episodes of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep without muscle atonia is a parasomnia known as REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD). RBD constitutes a prodromal marker of α-synucleinopathies and serves as one of the best biomarkers available to predict diseases such as Parkinson disease, multiple system atrophy and dementia with Lewy bodies. Most patients showing RBD will convert to an α-synucleinopathy about 10 years after diagnosis. The diagnostic advantage of RBD relies on the prolonged prodromal time, its predictive power and the absence of disease-related treatments that could act as confounders. Therefore, patients with RBD are candidates for neuroprotection trials that delay or prevent conversion to a pathology with abnormal α-synuclein metabolism. The administration of melatonin in doses exhibiting a chronobiotic/hypnotic effect (less than 10 mg daily) is commonly used as a first line treatment (together with clonazepam) of RBD. At a higher dose, melatonin may also be an effective cytoprotector to halt α-synucleinopathy progression. However, allometric conversion doses derived from animal studies (in the 100 mg/day range) are rarely employed clinically regardless of the demonstrated absence of toxicity of melatonin in phase 1 pharmacological studies with doses up to 100 mg in normal volunteers. This review discusses the application of melatonin in RBD: (a) as a symptomatic treatment in RBD; (b) as a possible disease-modifying treatment in α-synucleinopathies. To what degree melatonin has therapeutic efficacy in the prevention of α-synucleinopathies awaits further investigation, in particular multicenter double-blind trials. Full article