Search Results (149)

The integration of generative AI into creative industries is reshaping how content is produced, evaluated, and distributed. While recent advancements offer new opportunities for automation and innovation, they also raise questions about authorship, authenticity, and professional identity. This study examines public discourse on generative AI in creative domains through a text-mining analysis of nearly 4000 Reddit posts and comments. Drawing on six relevant subreddits from 2022 to 2025, the research investigates the structure of user engagement, interaction dynamics, and language patterns. It identifies dominant terms and phrases related to AI creativity, explores thematic clusters, and compares discussion styles across key tools such as Midjourney, ChatGPT, Stable Diffusion, and DALL·E. Additionally, it provides a sentiment overview based on automated classification and narrative interpretation. The findings show that Reddit users engage with generative AI not only as a set of technical tools but as a source of cultural, ethical, and creative negotiation. This study contributes to a deeper understanding of how digital transformation in creative industries is shaped by public perception, platform discourse, and evolving community norms. Full article

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in China has evolved from reproducing Western-centric frameworks to engaging with the institutional and political particularities that shape how CSR is reconfigured and practiced. Yet few studies have critically reviewed this growing body of literature to capture the core characteristics and mechanisms of state-corporate coordination in China. This paper fills this gap by reviewing 112 peer-reviewed English-language studies published between 2007 and 2025, synthesizing how CSR in China is conceptualized, embedded, and operationalized across cultural, economic, political, and global dimensions. This review identifies three institutional logics structuring Chinese CSR: (1) moral–cultural framing rooted in Confucian ethics and socialist collectivism; (2) economic coordination under state-led capitalism and selective neoliberalism; and (3) political signaling through Party-state governance and legitimacy negotiation. It also outlines six major research themes—CSR as a legitimacy strategy, CSR reporting, CSR in Chinese multinational enterprises, CSR’s link to financial performance, environmental CSR, and civil CSR—highlighting the mechanisms underlying each. Findings show that CSR in China is different from the managerial-stakeholder framework (e.g., explicit/implicit CSR, pyramid model or integrative model). Instead, it operates as an adaptive political technology within state-led capitalism, reinforcing moral legitimacy and political conformity as firms—especially SOEs and politically connected private enterprises—align with state-defined priorities. Through a comparative perspective, this review demonstrates how China’s CSR model fundamentally recalibrates corporate agency toward political negotiation rather than stakeholder responsiveness, offering a distinct configuration that challenges the presumed universality of Western CSR theories. Full article

This article examines whether, and under what conditions, there is room for new mosques in Belgian cities by analyzing how media controversies around mosque projects are assembled. We study a corpus of press articles (2014–2024) using a two-step approach: First, keyword mapping identifies dominant discursive patterns across six themes (mobility, legality, size and visibility, social cohesion and integration, security and extremism, financing). Second, argument coding links lexical signals to public modes of judgment through actor–network theory (ANT) and controversy registers. Applied to five case studies across Flanders, Wallonia, and the Brussels-Capital Region, this framework offers comparative depth. The results show that identity and security controversies frequently outweigh strict urban planning controversies; neutral planning criteria (e.g., traffic congestion, permit compliance) are often recoded as symbolic markers of alterity. Regional contrasts provide nuance to this pattern: in Flanders, politicization through security/identity is salient; in Wallonia, debates emphasize size, form, and spatial integration; in Brussels-Capital, technico-legal compliance intertwines with aesthetic visibility. Media operate as boundary objects that hierarchize registers and amplify controversies. We conclude that mosques are treated less as ordinary urban infrastructure than as contested symbols of belonging and visibility. Moving toward negotiated pluralism requires institutional mechanisms that ensure transparency, equal treatment, local anchoring, and symbolic requalification. Full article

Background: Artificial Intelligence (AI) has emerged as a transformative tool in in vitro fertilization (IVF) as it has done in other sectors. In IVF, AI offers advancements in embryo selection, treatment personalization, and outcome prediction. It does so by leveraging deep learning and computer vision, as well as AI-driven platforms such as ERICA, iDAScore, and IVY where the goal is to address the limitations of traditional embryo assessment. Key amongst them are the issues of subjectivity, labor intensity, and limited predictive power. Despite rapid technological progress, the integration of AI into routine IVF practice faces key challenges. These are issues related to clinical validation, ethical dilemmas, and workflow adaptation. Rationale/Objectives: This review synthesizes current evidence to evaluate the role of AI in IVF, focusing on six critical dimensions: (1) the evolution of AI from traditional embryology to algorithmic assessment, (2) clinical validation and regulatory considerations, (3) limitations and ethical challenges, (4) pathways for clinical integration, (5) real-world applications and outcomes, and (6) future directions and policy recommendations. The objective is to provide a comprehensive roadmap for the responsible adoption of AI in reproductive medicine. Outcomes: AI demonstrates significant potential to improve the precision and efficiency of IVF. Studies report that AI models can achieve 10 to 25% higher accuracy in predicting embryo viability and implantation potential compared to traditional morphological assessment by embryologists. This enhanced predictive power supports more consistent embryo ranking, facilitates elective single-embryo transfer (eSET) strategies, and is associated with 30 to 50% reductions in embryologist workload per embryo cohort. Early adopters report promising trends. However, large-scale randomized controlled trials have yet to conclusively demonstrate a statistically significant increase in live birth rates per transfer compared to expert embryologist selection. The most immediate and evidenced value of AI lies in hybrid decision-making models. This is where it augments embryologists by providing data-driven, objective support, thereby standardizing workflows and reducing subjectivity. Wider Implications: The sustainable integration of AI into IVF banks on three key aspects: robust evidence generation, interdisciplinary collaboration, and global standardization. To foster these, policymakers ought to establish regulatory frameworks for transparency and bias mitigation. On their part, clinicians need training to interpret AI outputs critically. Ethically, safeguarding patient trust and equity is non-negotiable. Future innovations, mainly AI-enhanced genomics and real-time monitoring, could further personalize care. However, their success depends on addressing current limitations. By balancing innovation with ethical vigilance, AI holds the potential to revolutionize IVF while upholding the highest standards of patient care. Full article

Gerald Horne’s explication of Cold War-era political history as negotiated white supremacy leads to an enhanced understanding of Japan in the Cold War. Although subject to important qualifications, Japanese anti-racism and solidarity with non-white peoples before, during, and after World War II contextualizes the view held by American intellectual W.E.B. Du Bois—and complicated and in places contested by Horne—that Japan was, in many ways, a champion of anti-white supremacy. The experiences of Black American servicemen and -women who served in Japan during the Cold War provide important historical grounding for Du Bois’ initial, state-centered insights about Japan as an anti-racist power. This modified “Du Bois Thesis” in turn guides the Horne Thesis, on the role of white supremacy in modern global history, into a deeper harmony with the history of Cold War Japan. Full article

While the Seokguram Grotto is celebrated in art history for its sculptural mastery, its architectural identity as a constructed stone dome—distinct from excavated caves—remains under-researched. Existing studies have largely relied on geometric analyses based on irrational numbers, which lack a historical basis. This study aims to reconstruct the logical design process of Seokguram by distinguishing between architectural planning and the realities of construction. Methodologically, we employ the concept of design constraints to analyze the grotto’s dimensional system and scene perception. We identify external constraints, such as the recorded dimensions of the Bodhgaya Buddha and cosmological symbolism (rectangular antechamber and circular posterior), and internal constraints, specifically the need for complete visual coordination between the Buddha’s head and the detached nimbus stone. Our analysis reveals that the designers negotiated these constraints through an iterative process. Key findings demonstrate that the pedestal’s height and position were adjusted, and the arched headstone was strategically designed as a threshold to ensure the perfect alignment of the Buddha and the nimbus from the viewer’s perspective. Furthermore, contrary to previous hypotheses proposing the use of irrational numbers (e.g., √2), this study proves that the grotto follows a proportional system based on integer modules (with 12 cheok as the main module) and binary division, which facilitated practical construction. In conclusion, Seokguram is not merely a product of aesthetic intuition but a masterpiece of rational design. In contrast to the vertical transcendence of Western Cathedrals, Seokguram Grotto embodies tectonics of empathy, prioritizing human-scale intimacy and visual harmony. Full article

Through a series of over 100 bilingual interviews with Hispanic San Antonians, the COVID-19 Oral Historias Project documents the Latino/a/e community’s experiences through the pandemic by sharing individual stories, amplifying local voices, and creating compassion in a fragmented time. The present article documents the project itself, contextualizing its creation, detailing its methodology, highlighting the most common themes across interviews, and pointing out its novel contributions. While the interviewees’ experiences are inarguably diverse, narrative threads were found throughout the corpus, united by the duality of the narrators’ experiences; throughout this period, they simultaneously negotiated community norms and official health directives, local and international anxieties, and hopelessness and hope. The project is unique in (1) its language use, privileging minoritized ways of speaking (Spanish and Spanglish); (2) its size, with over 100 interviews; and (3) its clearly delimited scope, with all respondents living in San Antonio. This massive, unified resource creates a public collection of bilingual stories, highlighting non-hegemonic voices that are of value to the community itself, as well as to the recorded history of the pandemic, filling in historical gaps and providing real, lived accounts of this period that might otherwise be lost over time. Full article

This work addresses the features of railway transition curves’ curvature, especially at extreme points. In particular, should it be smooth at the extreme points or not, or something else? Such a question is not accidental. This is based on the main results that the present authors obtained while optimizing the shape of polynomial railway transition curves. It appeared for the same quality function that, depending on the transition curve degree, the optimum shapes represented curvatures either possessing bends or close to smooth at the extreme points. Such a discrepancy raises the question of its reason, i.e., the factor influencing the appearance of bends at the extreme points of the curvatures the most. The continuity of G₀ and G₁ at such points was considered. At the same time, the hypothesis was formulated that a long time taken while negotiating the curve is the most influential factor of the existence of the mentioned bends in the extremities of curvature. Two cases were considered to ensure the long time of vehicle passage through the curve, with a great curve length and a small vehicle velocity, respectively. To verify the hypothesis, the optimizations of the shape of the transition curves of 5th, 9th, and 11th degrees and the simulations of the railway vehicle behaviour were performed. The hypothesis turned out to be true, although easier in application to long transition curves. It was shown that the transition curves’ shapes obtained in assumed circumstances did not have bends at the extreme points. The tendency to smoothen the curvature can be univocally noticed. It resulted in calmer vehicle movement, expressed by vehicle body lateral dynamical characteristics. Corresponding results of the simulations and transition curve optimizations were presented and compared. Full article

A growing international consensus holds that science education must advance beyond content coverage to cultivate robust understanding of the Nature of Science (NoS)—how scientific knowledge is generated, justified, revised, and socially negotiated. Yet naïve conceptions persist among students and teachers, and effective, scalable classroom strategies remain contested. This narrative review synthesizes research and practice on games and playful activities that make epistemic features of science visible and discussable. We organize the repertoire into six families—(i) observation–inference and discrepant-event tasks; (ii) pattern discovery and rule-finding puzzles; (iii) black-box and model-based inquiry; (iv) activities that dramatize tentativeness and anomaly management; (v) deliberately underdetermined mysteries that cultivate warrant-based explanations; and (vi) moderately contextualized games. Across these designs, we analyze how specific mechanics afford core NoS dimensions (e.g., observation vs. inference, creativity, plurality of methods, theory-ladenness and subjectivity, tentativeness) and what scaffolds transform playful engagement into explicit, reflective learning. We conclude with pragmatic guidance for teacher education and curriculum design, highlighting the importance of language supports, structured debriefs, and calibrated contextualization, and outline priorities for future research on equity, assessment, and digital extensions. Full article

(1) Background: Participatory modeling requires combining individual views to create a shared conceptual model. While remote collaboration tools have enabled synchronous online modeling, they are limited to desktop settings. Augmented reality (AR) offers a new approach by potentially providing the sense of presence found in physical collaboration, which may better support participants in achieving the sense of presence found in physical locations, thus supporting them in negotiating meaning and building a shared model. (2) Methods: Building on prior works that developed technology, we performed a usability study with pairs of modelers to examine their ability at performing key conceptual modeling tasks (e.g., merging or deleting concepts) in AR. Our study pays particular attention to the time spent on these tasks and distinguishes how long it takes to perform the action (as enabled by the technology) from how long the participants discussed the action (e.g., to jointly decide whether a new concept should be created). (3) Results: Users completed every task and rated the usability from $3.68$ (creating an edge) to $4.37$ (finding a node) on a scale from 1 (very difficult) to 5 (very easy). (4) Conclusions: Low familiarity with AR and high time per task limits adoption for conceptual modeling. Full article

Urban green spaces (UGS) are pivotal to urban sustainability, yet their morphology—patch size, shape, and configuration—remains insufficiently linked to institutional drivers. We investigate how land tenure strength shapes UGS morphology across 36 cities in nine countries. Using OpenStreetMap data, we delineate UGS and compute landscape metrics (AREA, PARA, SHAPE, FRAC, PAFRAC) via FRAGSTATS; we develop a composite index of land tenure strength capturing ownership, use-right duration, expropriation compensation, and government land governance capacity. Spearman’s rank correlations indicate a scale-dependent coupling: stronger tenure is significantly associated with micro-scale patterns—smaller patch areas and more complex, irregular boundaries—consistent with fragmented ownership and higher transaction costs, whereas macro-scale indicators (e.g., overall green coverage/connectivity) show weaker sensitivity. These findings clarify an institutional pathway through which property rights intensity influences the physical fabric of urban nature. Policy implications are twofold: in high-intensity contexts, flexible instruments (e.g., transferable development rights, negotiated acquisition, ecological compensation) can maintain network connectivity via embedded, fine-grain interventions; in low-intensity contexts, one-off land assembly can efficiently deliver larger, regular green cores. The results provide evidence-based guidance for aligning green infrastructure design with diverse governance regimes and advancing context-sensitive sustainability planning. Full article

Higher education is often positioned as a pathway to upward social mobility, yet access to highly selective universities (HSUs) remains limited, with first-generation college (FGC) students from low-income and ethnoracially minoritized backgrounds disproportionately constrained by structural barriers. This study applies an asset-based lens to examine how a cross-generational team of six Latine FGC affiliates of an HSU (i.e., alumni, doctoral students, professor) resiliently persisted in their educational and professional journeys, leveraging cultural and social capital. Employing Chicana/Latina feminist methodology and dialogic inquiry, we engaged in pláticas to critically reflect on factors that shaped our life trajectories. Findings reveal that social mobility was negotiated collectively rather than individually, highlighting tensions between personal advancement and commitments to family and community. We also consider the role of structured happenstance in pivotal encounters (e.g., being recognized by mentors, recruited by scholarship programs) that appeared serendipitous but were situated within systems where opportunity is inequitably distributed. Structured happenstance exposes the precariousness of such pathways and systemic gaps in FGC student support, challenging the notion that access to elite, capital-rich institutions is the product of merit alone. Our narratives offer a nuanced portrait of how FGC students navigate social mobility across the life course. Full article

The carbon pool of harvested wood products (HWPs) is an essential part of the national greenhouse gas inventory. Developing a Tier-3 method for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Production Approach (PA) enhances the accuracy of HWP carbon balance assessments and removal estimates. This is crucial as the PA is a mandatory IPCC approach. A major challenge for developing a Tier-3 PA is the absence of an effective way to allocate HWP production to domestic and overseas end uses, precluding the application of Tier-3 PA in most countries in the world. Here, we integrated the Eora multi-regional input–output (MRIO) model, which effectively allocates HWPs to these end uses into the PA to create a generalizable Tier-3 PA. Using China-produced HWPs from 1990 to 2020 as a case study, we report that these HWPs accumulated a carbon stock of 3376 MtCO₂e by 2020 and provided a carbon sink of 221 MtCO₂e yr⁻¹ from 2016 to 2020. Construction, furniture, other solid HWPs, sanitary and household paper, and other paper products accumulated 1244, 226, 1032, 0, and 189 MtCO₂e, respectively. China’s trade partners consumed 14% of China-produced HWPs and contributed to 13% of the total carbon stock and 15% of the total carbon sink. The generalizable Tier-3 PA is applicable for countries with limited end-use data, and thus enhances their HWP carbon removal estimates. Our first-ever comprehensive PA-based assessment of overseas HWP consumption and carbon removal supports IPCC methodological improvement and future HWP-related international negotiations and mitigation actions. Full article

Research in western countries concludes that children and adolescents are exposed to multiple forms of online risks and harms. However, in the context of Saudi Arabia, research in online safety education is lagging. Currently, online safety education is generic and not research informed. Hence, this exploratory study seeks to generate a qualitative understanding of online risks and harms experienced by Saudi children, adolescents, and parents as well as online safety strategies. Using a semi-structured interview, this study explores the views of 15 children (12–15 years) and 10 parents. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) yielded four key themes: Negotiating the Promise and Peril of the internet, Living with the Shadows of the Online World, Psychological, and Physical Health Consequences, and Navigating Safety in a Digital Landscape of Uncertainty. While the benefits are clear (e.g., education and socialisation), children and parents have shared worries about cyberbullying, aggression, and exploitation. Internet addiction and isolation are notable consequences along with vision impairment and obesity. Children’s online safety practices are reactive, e.g., blocking and deleting risky content/behaviour, while parents share their struggles in monitoring children online. Online safety education, or the lack of it, is to blame. Children’s and parents’ limited awareness of online risks and poor online safety practices need to improve in Saudi Schools and households; there is an urgent need for further research and adequate implementation of systematic online safety education. Full article

Utilising Arendt’s ‘right to have rights’ thesis not only as an observation on citizenship but as an intrinsic eligibility and political opportunity for the stateless, this paper outlines how the Nationality and Borders Act 2022 and Illegal Migration Act 2023 do not merely continue the general trend of criminalising migrants but take the further step of socially distancing the securitised migrant object. The recent legislation provides that those who arrive in the UK via ‘irregular means’ (i.e., small boats) will likely have their asylum claims deemed ‘inadmissible’. The lack of a ‘negotiated settlement’ in the asylum complex has been well noted; however, the systematic prejudgement and consequent bureaucratic social distancing inherent in the new legislation now threatens to remove even the prospect of negotiation. The means of arrival instantly proving decisive precludes the possibility for asylum seekers to present evidence that they are genuine refugees, and, with it, the politico-legal space and opportunity for the ‘irregular’ person to generally make themselves seen and heard is maliciously obstructed. The result is not just the denial of humanity and concomitant human dues (rights), but a distinct move towards denial of even the possibility of humanity (the right to have rights). Such works to distance system administrators from issues of vulnerability, assuredly direful consequences, and humanness itself, as is essential for the expansion of a system where basic human rights are so lacking. Full article