Search Results (15,430)

The malicious contamination of food has been recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a real and current threat that must be integrated into food safety systems to ensure preparedness for deliberate attacks. Traditional approaches, such as HACCP, effectively address unintentional hazards but remain insufficient against intentional contamination and sabotage. Food defense frameworks such as HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points), VACCP (Vulnerability Assessment and Critical Control Points), and TACCP (Threat Assessment and Critical Control Points) represent complementary methodologies, addressing unintentional, economically motivated, and deliberate threats, respectively. This review critically examines food defense frameworks across the European Union, the United States, and the United Kingdom, as well as standards benchmarked by the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI), drawing on peer-reviewed and grey literature sources. In the United States, the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) mandates the development and periodic reassessment of food defense plans, while the European Union primarily relies on general food law and voluntary certification schemes. The United Kingdom’s PAS 96:2017 standard provides TACCP-based guidance that also acknowledges cybercrime as a deliberate threat. Building on these regulatory and operational gaps, this paper proposes the Cyber-FSMS model, an integrated framework that combines traditional food defense pillars with cyber risk management to address cyber–physical vulnerabilities in increasingly digitalized supply chains. The model introduces six interconnected components (governance, vulnerability assessment, mitigation, monitoring, verification, and recovery) designed to embed cyber-resilience into Food Safety Management Systems (FSMS). Priority actions include regulatory harmonization, practical support for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and the alignment of cyber-resilience principles with upcoming GFSI benchmarking developments, thereby strengthening the integrity, robustness, and adaptability of global food supply chains. Full article

Tyrosinase is a key enzyme in melanogenesis, playing an important role in skin, hair, and eye pigmentation, as well as in the enzymatic browning of fruits and vegetables. Excessive tyrosinase activity leads to hyperpigmentation and other dermatological problems, and it also causes losses in the food industry. For this reason, tyrosinase inhibitors have become the subject of intensive research in medicine, cosmetology, and food technology. Among various inhibitors, compounds containing ketone and hydroxyl groups draw special attention, because they have the ability to chelate copper ions in enzyme’s active center or block access to it. This article discusses the possible mechanisms of action, based on molecular modeling of interaction of PDB database retrieved model of enzyme with known natural inhibitors–kojic acid and tropolone, as well as 6-hydroxyimino derivatives of imidazo[1,2-a]imidazole-5-ones. The results suggest that the model of enzyme–ligand interaction can be useful in establishing affinity to tyrosinase of new natural and synthetic inhibitors, which can have broad applications in various fields, particularly in medicine and cosmetology, with promising prospects for further development. Full article

Landscape architecture has long engaged esthetics, ecological process, and cultural meaning, and contemporary practice increasingly embraces systemic and process-based approaches. Yet even within this richness, designers often lack systematic tools for addressing how embodied interaction shapes human–nature relationships. Granted, frameworks such as biophilic design and restorative environments emphasize the importance of contact with nature. Yet they often stop short of specifying the sensory and movement-based interactions through which agency, well-being, and meaning are cultivated. To address this gap, this paper introduces Interaction Pattern Design (IPD) as a theory-grounded and practice-oriented framework for landscape architecture. The first part of the paper outlines what interaction patterns are, how they scale along the continuum from highly domestic to relatively wild environments, and the empirical evidence that establishes their significance. The second half of this paper speaks to designers specifically and applies this IP approach to the design process. Two design tools are introduced. One is Quadrant Mapping, which visualizes intersections of environmental and behavioral wildness within a site. The second is Structuring Interaction Patterns, which organizes design elements through scale, sequence, and co-occurrence. Drawing from case studies, the paper demonstrates how these tools enrich process- and ecology-focused design methods, supporting deeper and more enduring forms of engagement with nature. Full article

This study investigates the factors influencing the perceived credibility of advertising content on e-commerce platforms, drawing on behavioral economics and communication theories. Through a quasi-experimental design involving 156 participants, we analyzed how message features, product importance, and socio-demographic variables affect user perceptions. The results reveal that users assign higher credibility to simple, essential content and that gender plays a significant role, with women perceiving paramedical and technical content as more credible. Age, however, showed no significant influence. The discussion highlights the psychological mechanisms behind these behaviors, such as risk and ambiguity aversion, and proposes implications for digital marketing strategies and future research. Full article

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) represents one of the world’s most ambitious transnational infrastructure and investment programs, but its implementation faces considerable external risks. Specifically, these risks include geopolitical instability, regulatory disparities, socio-cultural conflicts, and economic volatility, which threaten project continuity, economic viability, and sustainability of the BRI framework. Consequently, effective risk recognition and prediction has become crucial for mitigating disruptions and supporting evidence-based policy formulation. What should be noticed is that existing risk management frameworks lack specialized, dynamically adaptive indicator systems capable of forecasting external risks specific to international engineering projects under the BRI. They tend to rely on static and traditional methods, which are ill-equipped to handle the dynamic and nonlinear nature of these transnational challenges. To address this gap, we have developed a machine learning-based early warning system. Drawing on a comprehensive dataset of 31 risk indicators across 155 BRI countries from 2013 to 2022, we constructed a stacked ensemble model optimized via Grid Search. The resulting ensemble model demonstrated exceptional predictive performance, achieving an R² value of 0.966 and outperforming all baseline methods significantly. By introducing a data-driven early-warning framework, our study contributes to more resilient infrastructure planning and improved risk governance mechanisms in the context of transnational cooperation initiatives. Full article

We pose the question of whether life has become unlivable for the young in America amidst the current political climate, which has systematically deregulated our social structures that safeguard against oppressive and unjust practices. What leads the young to become demoralized to the point of wanting to end their lives? Drawing on several established psychosocial models for suicide, including those of Durkheim, Joiner, and Butler, we highlight how groups of youth as disparate as youth of color, LGBTQ+ youth, and young men experience unique sociopolitical stressors that contribute to increased suicidality. We argue that despite differences in their contexts, they experience shared pathways to suicide. At a time when U.S. funding cuts threaten to dismantle the progress made in recent years to address structural racism and sexism, we also make a case for the importance of mental health clinicians’ engagement in advocacy work that recognizes the sociopolitical influences on mental health and highlight universal school-based social emotional learning (USB SEL) as one beneficial intervention to target mental health outcomes across disparate youth groups. Full article

This study examines the influence of employee tenure on earnings management and the moderating role of foreign investors in Korean listed firms. Drawing on agency theory and entrenchment perspectives, we argue that longer employee tenure, while fostering stability and firm-specific expertise, can entrench practices that enable opportunistic reporting. In contrast, consistent with resource dependence theory, foreign investors act as effective external monitors who can mitigate such behavior, particularly in emerging markets with weaker governance institutions. Using 11,381 firm-year observations from 2011 to 2019, we estimate discretionary accruals with the modified Jones model and performance-matched model. The results indicate that employee tenure is positively associated with accrual-based earnings management, but this effect is significantly reduced in firms with higher foreign investor ownership. Robustness tests, including instrumental variable estimation, confirm the validity of these findings. This study’s main contributions are introducing employee tenure as an underexplored governance factor, integrating internal and external monitoring perspectives, and showing that foreign investors moderate workforce-related risks. Practically, it highlights that investors can use tenure as a reporting risk signal, managers should complement workforce stability with strong governance, and policymakers should promote tenure disclosure and foreign participation to enhance transparency. Full article

With the rapid development of e-commerce, Taobao Villages have emerged as a representative form of rural e-commerce in China, exerting a profound influence on rural economic transformation and urban–rural integration. However, their spatiotemporal distribution is uneven and exhibits a complex interaction with urbanization. Drawing on data from 178 cities between 2017 and 2022, this study employs the Spatial Autoregressive Model (SAR), Spatial Error Model (SEM), and Spatial Durbin Model (SDM) to examine both the direct and spillover effects of urbanization on Taobao Villages. The results indicate that Taobao Villages display significant spatial clustering across China. While urbanization exerts a positive short-term effect on the number of local Taobao Villages, this effect weakens in the long term and under spatial interaction, and higher levels of urbanization in one region impose significant negative spillover effects on neighboring areas. These findings highlight the dual nature of urbanization in simultaneously promoting and constraining rural e-commerce development. Accordingly, policy efforts should focus on rational administrative spatial adjustment and boundary reorganization, optimizing the urban–rural spatial structure, supporting the development of peripheral and disadvantaged regions, enhancing the balanced and efficient flow of factors across regions, and fostering differentiated development pathways to strengthen the resilience of Taobao Villages and promote healthy and sustainable urban–rural integration. Full article

This study examines the perceived utility of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), particularly ChatGPT, in the development of final degree projects across diverse academic disciplines. Drawing on a mixed-methods design, the research involved eleven final-year undergraduate students who participated in structured sessions integrating GenAI tools into distinct project phases. Quantitative and qualitative data revealed heterogeneous perceptions of GenAI’s utility, with theoretical framework development rated most favorably and visual presentation tasks least useful. Disciplinary variations were pronounced; students from Chemical Engineering and Psychology reported higher engagement, while those in Philosophy and Computer Science expressed greater skepticism. To ensure methodological rigor, AI-driven linguistic analysis of oral discourse confirmed participant homogeneity in academic maturity, supporting the attribution of perceptual differences to disciplinary and task-specific variables rather than individual disparities. The findings underscore the need for context-sensitive integration of GenAI in higher education, balancing its potential as a cognitive amplifier with critical evaluation of its limitations. Full article

Influenced by various physical, chemical, and microbial factors, the aging process of Citri Reticulatae ‘Chachiensis’ Pericarpium (CRCP) poses a complex scientific challenge. Drawing inspiration from the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine, volatile oils were extracted from CRCP aged 1, 3, 5, and 7 years by steam distillation and subsequently analyzed by GC-MS. The results revealed that the relative percentage of 4-vinylguaiacol (4-VG) increased progressively with aging. Nineteen volatile oil components were further assessed for their glucose metabolism-enhancing activities, with 4-VG emerging as a key active compound. Notably, 4-VG remarkably enhanced insulin-stimulated glucose uptake in C2C12 myotubes. Moreover, 4-VG demonstrated potent antihyperglycemic effects by upregulating IRS-1/Akt/GSK-3β phosphorylation in the insulin signaling pathway on a high-fat diet and STZ-induced diabetic mouse model. In addition, the metabolic pathway of 4-VG, from ferulic acid and then to vanillin and guaiacol, was verified via HPLC-UV, metabolomics, and microbiome analyses, which confirmed the microbial conversion of 4-VG within CRCP. The metabolic pathway was ultimately validated by isolating and identifying Priestia aryabhattai, Bacillus velezensis, and Aspergillus fumigatus from CRCP, with further in vitro culture and biotransformation experiments confirming its functionality and efficiency. These findings provide new insights and experimental evidence that deepen our understanding of the aging process of CRCP. Full article

This article explores how Text-to-Speech (TTS) and Speech-to-Text (STT) technologies are being harnessed in education to enhance accessibility, language development, and overall learner engagement. Drawing upon theoretical frameworks in linguistics and educational psychology, we highlight the benefits TTS and STT can offer to diverse student populations, including students with disabilities, language learners, and those seeking personalized or self-paced instruction. We discuss methods for integrating TTS and STT into the classroom (hardware, software, and practical considerations) and offer case studies of effective implementations in areas such as literacy support, foreign language acquisition, and assessment. We then address the pedagogical benefits these tools provide—such as differentiated instruction, immediate feedback, and a heightened sense of learner autonomy—along with limitations and challenges that educators may encounter. In conclusion, we suggest future directions for research and practice, underscoring the importance of teacher training, ethical considerations, and ever-evolving advancements in natural language processing. Full article

This article reflects on the fading of personal and familial histories in the context of migration, trauma, and cultural transformation. While modern tools such as ancestry kits and digitized records promise clarity about our roots, they often fail to capture the emotional and narrative legacies that define us. Drawing on scholars such as Jan Mason, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, and Saidiya Hartman, this piece explores the silence that surrounds intergenerational memory. Whether caused by disruption, grief, or survival, silence is shown to be both an absence and a form of protection. The editorial calls for greater intentionality in preserving stories through conversation, documentation, and creative expression as a way to resist erasure and affirm identity in the face of historical neglect. In a world where wars, migration, and climate disasters are uprooting millions, we risk losing not just homes but the stories, languages, and rituals that carry who we are. This piece is a call to hold on to those fragile histories beyond the facts and dates, so that what is most human in our past is not silenced by the speed and forgetting of the present. Full article

Research that explores which computational thinking (CT) skills resonate with the abilities and interests of preschoolers is limited. Even more limited is the availability of assessments that can be used to measure young children’s CT learning. This study describes the process employed to generate a series of developmentally appropriate assessment tasks designed to draw inferences of young children’s learning of CT components and engagement in CT practices. Assessment tasks were designed and pilot-tested with a sample of 57 preschool children in Virginia and California. Item responses were coded and analyzed using classical test theory to examine item difficulty and discrimination. The reliability of the final set of items was calculated using Cronbach’s alpha. The overall difficulty of the items was relatively high, and discrimination values were generally adequate. The total summated score was also found to be reliable. Our assessment and design process reveals challenges and shares ideas for item formats that allow gathering evidence of young children’s CT learning. Full article

Jin’er (Naematelia aurantialba), commonly known as golden ear, is a traditional edible fungus that has long been recognized for its medicinal and culinary properties in China. Recently, it has been registered as a new cosmetic ingredient, drawing significant attention across various fields, including medicine, food, and cosmetics, due to its array of nutritional and medicinal benefits. N. aurantialba is rich in bioactive compounds, such as polysaccharides, dietary fiber, polyphenols, and active peptides. Among these, N. aurantialba polysaccharides (NAPs) are the primary active components, exhibiting a range of biological properties, including antioxidant, hypoglycemic, immunomodulatory, intestinal flora modulatory, anti-tumor, and anti-inflammatory effects. This comprehensive review summarizes the latest advancements in the extraction, purification, structural characteristics, functional activity, and related functional mechanisms of NAPs, as well as their industrial applications. Additionally, it discusses the current limitations in NAPs research and explores its potential future research directions. This review aims to provide up-to-date information and valuable references for researchers and industry professionals interested in the potential application of NAPs in the fields of food, medicine, healthcare, and cosmetics. Full article

This study investigates how trauma-informed and healing-centred architectural design is associated with rehabilitation and reintegration outcomes in young people’s correctional facilities. Drawing on international case studies, the analysis demonstrates that architecture is not a neutral backdrop but a contributing determinant within broader justice ecosystems. Trauma-informed environments are consistently linked to reductions in re-traumatisation and improvements in emotional regulation, while small-scale, community-oriented facilities are associated with enhanced skill development, autonomy, and reintegration potential. Culturally responsive designs that incorporate Indigenous practices and symbolic architecture are observed to support identity, resilience, and community belonging, underscoring the importance of cultural continuity in rehabilitation processes. In parallel, sustainable features such as biophilic design, renewable energy systems, and natural light are correlated with improvements in ecological performance and psychosocial well-being, indicating that sustainability and rehabilitation may be mutually reinforcing goals. Notably, the analysis highlights that supportive environments are also associated with staff well-being and institutional stability, underscoring the broader organisational benefits of healing architecture. The findings suggest that young people’s correctional facilities should not replicate adult prisons but instead provide safe, developmental, and culturally grounded spaces that respond to adolescents’ unique needs. This study contributes a novel conceptual model—the Trauma-Informed Healing Architecture (TIHA) framework—that integrates trauma-informed, cultural, and ecological design strategies within the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The framework defines global standards as universal principles—safety, dignity, cultural responsiveness, and natural light—while remaining adaptable to local resources and justice systems. In this way, it provides internationally relevant yet context-sensitive guidance for young people’s correctional reform. Full article