Search Results (87)

Planning serves as a vital tool for achieving orderly land management and utilization. The success of conservation planning hinges on its ability to translate cultural heritage preservation needs into rational allocation and guidance of land resources, ultimately realizing a win–win outcome that fosters cultural continuity, social harmony, and economic development. Historic and cultural towns are highly representative urban and rural historic and cultural heritage sites. However, the participation components in the conservation planning of historic towns are complex, and the misalignment of the functions, rights and responsibilities, and interest demands of the participants often leads to a loss of actual benefits. To help achieve a reasonable transformation of the protection needs of historic towns and guide the cultural inheritance and socially harmonious development of urban and rural construction, based on game theory and the logic of planning rights games, this paper begins with an understanding of the relevant laws and regulations, conducts an empirical analysis of the game processes and situations of conservation planning in two provinces and four towns, and incorporates publicly available data from the internet for argumentation to explore the game states and operation mechanisms of conservation planning in historic and cultural towns. The findings reveal the following regarding historic town conservation planning: (1) it proceeds lawfully and rationally, reflecting collective rationality; (2) it exhibits two equilibrium modes: relatively static and dynamic; (3) game conflicts mainly manifest as multi-planning conflicts and the resulting conflicts among systems and inter-systems. The game dynamics are influenced by the value of the historic town, resource allocation, and the relationship between rights, responsibilities, and interests. To overcome the game dilemma, it is essential to establish effective cooperative mechanisms at the legal and regulatory levels based on the value of the historic town, allocate resources reasonably, and achieve a balance between rights, responsibilities, and interests. Full article

This study examines the impact of Kosovo’s matrimonial property and inheritance laws on intergenerational inheritance and family connections. It explores how the division of property during marriage or upon divorce influences inheritance outcomes and the continuity of family lineage. The research employs a comparative approach, including genealogical case studies, to analyze these effects. Findings demonstrate that legal provisions significantly influence the preservation of family property and help prevent intra-family disputes. Well-structured laws ensuring the participation of children and the surviving spouse promote gender and social equality, respect heirs’ rights, and support economic sustainability. Comparative experiences from Germany and France offer practical examples for harmonizing property management in Kosovo. Additionally, the study highlights the importance of accurate property data and the use of genealogical records to maintain continuity in material inheritance and the construction of family history. Overall, matrimonial property and inheritance laws are more than legal instruments; they uphold social order and safeguard families’ material legacies. The study concludes with concrete recommendations for policy and legal practices that address communities’ real needs while acknowledging family history. Full article

Throughout evolution, living beings have had to face and resist adverse conditions that tested their adaptive capacity. As a result, they have developed processes such as hormesis to ensure their survival and their ability to thrive in challenging environments. Currently, this process is recognized as a key mechanism that complements Darwin and Wallace’s theory of evolution, making it necessary to explore its relationship with other processes linked to natural selection such as adaptation, adaptability, plasticity, variation, and variability, among the main ones. Subsequent research within the framework of Neo-Darwinism and Modern Synthesis better explains hormesis and the understanding of the complexity of biological responses. In this framework, there is a great need to put hormesis in context based on the laws of variation and inheritance and establish a consistent, updated, and expanded definition that allows the integration of hormesis with evolutionary processes. In addition, the biological mechanisms through which hormesis may be related to the evolutionary process are discussed. Full article

Genealogy has shifted from the private domain of family history to a central mechanism in law and governance. This article examines how genealogical claims are used as evidence in three critical domains: citizenship, inheritance, and indigenous recognition. Using a comparative socio-legal approach, the study analyses statutes, case law, and interdisciplinary scholarship to reveal both convergences and divergences in evidentiary practice. Across legal systems, descent remains decisive in allocating rights and recognition, yet the hierarchy of proof varies. Civil law states privilege documentary records, common law courts increasingly rely on DNA testing, and indigenous forums continue to give authority to oral genealogies. The rapid growth of genetic genealogy databases adds new complexity. While these technologies expand opportunities for verification, they also create ethical challenges concerning privacy, consent, and the extension of genealogical data into surveillance. To address these dynamics, the article develops an evidence regime framework that treats genealogy as criteria of proof, media of proof, institutional gatekeepers, and social consequences. The findings highlight genealogy’s dual character: it enables claims to rights yet also reproduces exclusion when evidentiary hierarchies are imposed. The article argues for pluralist standards that respect documentary, genetic, and oral genealogies, offering a pathway toward more inclusive and just legal recognition. Full article

This paper presents an approach to the velocity control loop of induction motor drives utilizing the Higher-Order PID-Nested Nonsingular Terminal Sliding Mode (PID-NTSM) method. Here, the PID-NTSM sliding manifold is formulated by the incorporation of both derivative and integral errors of states into the conventional nonsingular terminal sliding mode surface (NTSM). In this manner, the control signals take the higher-order sliding mode control law, obtained by multiple integrals. In this way, such signals are continuous, and the sliding manifold is obtained in finite time; the system’s states asymptotically converge chattering-free to zero at a much faster response time and higher tracking precision while maintaining inherited robustness characteristics. The effectiveness of the proposed method is comprehensively validated both numerically and experimentally. Full article

This paper examines conversion to Islam in eighteenth-century Ottoman Jerusalem as a multifaceted transformation negotiated across social, legal, and economic domains. Drawing on Jerusalem Court Registers and the scholar al-Khalīlī’s (d. 1734, Jerusalem) fatwās, the study suggests that conversion was both a declaration of faith and a mechanism for restructuring social boundaries. The removal of the yellow turban after the shahāda signalled a symbolic rupture that reshaped kinship, property and legal status. Court cases and fatwās reveal that marriage, dowry, custody, inheritance, and debts were governed not only by Islamic law but also by social negotiation. While the situation of the children illustrates the fragility of social boundaries, the principle of subordination to one’s origins was a crucial factor in the transmission of identity. Through the amalgamation of normative discourse with judicial practices, this article provides a nuanced micro-sociological contribution to the comprehension of Ottoman Jerusalem. Conversion transcends a personal change in belief and emerges as a social experience that reorganizes family ties, property relations, and social belonging. Consequently, conversion functions as a boundary-making site where integration and exclusion are contested and where symbolic authority intersects with material interests. Full article

In 1844, Hermann Müller, a Catholic law professor from Würzburg, published a hefty volume on Nordic Greekdom and the Original History of North-Western Europe. The study claimed to hold definitive proof of the north-European origins of Hellenism, Abrahamic monotheism, and the entire human race. Germanic history was not German at all, Müller argued, but Celtic, and underneath it lay another hidden history of Nordic Greekdom, of which Southern Hellenism had been but a minor branch. Though it is today largely forgotten, Müller’s book elicited several responses upon publication and as late as the 1920s in Nazi literature. This article examines the reception of Nordic Greekdom as a striking example of the politicization of antiquity as an origin myth, arguing that the array of modern historicizations of antiquity and of Christianity’s place within it forms a ruptured and incoherent continuity of which ideologies as dissimilar as liberalism, Christian conservatism, and fascism—to name but a few—were all a part. Tracing this variety across ideological divides avoids overly rigid dichotomies such as the distinction between theological and racial antisemitism, while acknowledging the persistent, vast significance of Christianity within these discussions, whether as a living faith or as a discarded inheritance. Full article

Judging from the current global exploration trend, ultra-deep layers have become the main battlefield for energy exploration. China has made great progress in the ultra-deep field in recent decades, with the Tarim Basin and Sichuan Basin as the focus of exploration. The Sichuan Basin is a large superimposed gas-bearing basin that has experienced multiple tectonic movements and has developed multiple sets of reservoir–caprock combinations vertically. Notably, the multi-stage platform margin belt-type reservoirs of the Sinian–Lower Paleozoic exhibit inherited and superimposed development. Source rocks from the Qiongzhusi, Doushantuo, and Maidiping formations are located in close proximity to reservoirs, creating a complex hydrocarbon supply system, resulting in vertical and lateral migration paths. The structural faults connect the source and reservoir, and the source–reservoir–caprock combination is complete, with huge exploration potential. At the same time, the ultra-deep carbonate rock structure in the basin is weakly deformed, the ancient closures are well preserved, and the ancient oil reservoirs are cracked into gas reservoirs in situ, with little loss, which is conducive to the large-scale accumulation of natural gas. Since the Nvji well produced 18,500 cubic meters of gas per day in 1979, the study of ultra-deep layers in the Sichuan Basin has begun. Subsequently, further achievements have been made in the Guanji, Jiulongshan, Longgang, Shuangyushi, Wutan and Penglai gas fields. Since 2000, two trillion cubic meters of exploration areas have been discovered, with huge exploration potential, which is an important area for increasing production by trillion cubic meters in the future. Faced with the ultra-deep high-temperature and high-pressure geological environment and the complex geological conditions formed by multi-stage superimposed tectonic movements, how do we understand the special geological environment of ultra-deep layers? What geological processes have the generation, migration and enrichment of ultra-deep hydrocarbons experienced? What are the laws of distribution of ultra-deep oil and gas reservoirs? Based on the major achievements and important discoveries made in ultra-deep oil and gas exploration in recent years, this paper discusses the formation and enrichment status of ultra-deep oil and gas reservoirs in the Sichuan Basin from the perspective of basin structure, source rocks, reservoirs, caprocks, closures and preservation conditions, and provides support for the optimization of favorable exploration areas in the future. Full article

This paper assesses Elizabeth Anscombe’s influential argument in her 1958 essay “Modern Moral Philosophy,” which holds that secular moral obligation is metaphysically incoherent without a divine law framework. This paper reconstructs her argument—dubbed the “divine indispensability argument”—in standard form and then presents eight targeted objections that fall under three general types—challenges to its intelligibility, internal and external inconsistency, and substantive improbabilities—demonstrating that each strand refutes her thesis. Finally, it shows that her proposed remedy inherits the very defects she attributes to secular ethics and concludes that moral obligation remains fully coherent within nontheistic frameworks. Full article

This paper offers a critical analysis of traditional Muslim sexual morality and questions its validity in the present. It focuses on two elements: (1) nikāḥ as a legal marriage contract characterized by asymmetrical gender roles and (2) historically permitted sexual relations with enslaved women, as well as Muslim positions on sexual intercourse with minors. After a conceptual clarification of sexual autonomy, I examine the positions of different legal schools and contextualize their norms within broader social and intellectual histories. Building on the approach of “overcoming the text,” I argue that foundational religious texts can no longer serve as the normative basis for a contemporary sexual ethic. Instead, I redefine the notion of “illegitimate sexuality” (zinā) based on the principle of sexual autonomy and show how modern legal and social frameworks (rule of law, welfare state, medical evidence) render earlier functions of sexual regulation obsolete. The Qurʾanic concept of maʿrūf serves as a dynamic ethical reference point. The goal is a paradigm shift toward a Muslim sexual ethic that centers autonomy, equality, and human dignity while critically dismantling inherited structures. Full article

This paper examines inheritance rights within the Albanian diaspora, emphasizing the tension between long-standing traditions and contemporary legal frameworks. It specifically investigates traditional inheritance practices rooted in the Kanun and familial customs, alongside the challenges that arise when these traditions intersect with the laws of host countries where Albanians reside abroad. This study assesses the impact of migration on the preservation of cultural identity and evaluates how the modern legal systems of Kosovo, Albania, and various European and American states address inheritance matters for Albanians living outside their homeland. Furthermore, the paper presents concrete cases of conflicts between tradition and legal frameworks, underscoring the necessity for further harmonization that respects cultural heritage while ensuring legal justice for the Albanian diaspora. Finally, the study provides recommendations for enhancing legal policies and safeguarding inheritance rights to support the maintenance of cultural identity and familial bonds within Albanian communities abroad. Full article

Aiming at the weakness of “two kinds of thinking; lack of integration” between Chinese culture and green technology in the field of urban and rural construction, as well as the high-quality construction needs of China’s new urbanization, using system thinking, genetic factors, and iteration theory, the components of genetic and variation factors and the integrative and iterative mechanisms of Chinese culture and green technology were studied. Chinese culture is rich in humanistic and green science and technology feelings of “reciprocity between heaven and mankind” and “matching nature”, believing that the ways of science and technology is inherently consistent with the ways of nature and man. Chinese culture endorses green science and technology with humanity and soul, and green science and technology promote the evolution and rebirth of Chinese culture. The genetic factors of Chinese culture and the variation factors of green science and technology constitute the inheritance and renewal system of integration, the unity of opposites, and the coordination of conflicts between them, deducing the integrated architectural design mechanism in which science and technology are “culturized” and culture is “technologized”. The iterative mechanism of mathematical operation is the logical thinking of architectural design in the repeated feedback process of cultural and scientific spatial graphics. It approximates the design thinking law of design conditions and requirements through a cyclic iterative scaling operation and can use computer-aided iterative design. According to the function, level, and structural relationship between Chinese culture space graphics and green science and technology space graphics, the iterative mechanism of collocation accumulation is the iterative design law of level accumulation and optimized collocation. There are two kinds of deduction paths, forward and reverse fusion, in the iteration–fusion design mechanism, which form the integration and iteration logic of mutual carrier and object. Full article

Endometrial cancer (EC) is the most common gynecological malignancy in developed countries. Risk factors for EC include metabolic alterations (obesity, metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance), hormonal imbalance, age at menopause, reproductive factors, and inherited conditions, such as Lynch syndrome. For the inherited forms, several genes had been implicated in EC occurrence and development, such as POLE, MLH1, TP53, PTEN, PIK3CA, PIK3R1, CTNNB1, ARID1A, PPP2R1A, and FBXW7, all mutated at high frequency in EC patients. However, gene function impairment is not necessarily caused by mutations in the coding sequence of these and other genes. Gene function alteration may also occur through post-transcriptional control of messenger RNA translation, frequently caused by microRNA action, but transcriptional impairment also has a profound impact. Here, we review how chromatin modifications change the expression of genes whose impaired function is directly related to EC etiopathogenesis. Chromatin modification plays a central role in EC. The modification of chromatin structure alters the accessibility of genes to transcription factors and other regulatory proteins, thus altering the intracellular protein amount. Thus, DNA structural alterations may impair gene function as profoundly as mutations in the coding sequences. Hence, its central importance is in the diagnostic and prognostic evaluation of EC patients, with the caveat that chromatin alteration is often difficult to identify and needs investigations that are specific and not broadly used in common clinical practice. The different phases of the healthy endometrium menstrual cycle are characterized by differential gene expression, which, in turn, is also regulated through epigenetic mechanisms involving DNA methylation, histone post-translational modifications, and non-coding RNA action. From a medicolegal and policy-making perspective, the implications of using epigenetics in cancer care are briefly explored as well. Epigenetics in endometrial cancer is not only a topic of biomedical interest but also a crossroads between science, ethics, law, and public health, requiring integrated approaches and careful regulation. Full article

Vernacular architecture is a complex and living heritage type, and the study of the evolution laws of its spatial form is of great value to the conservation of architectural heritage diversity. Taking vernacular architecture in the Yunnan–Tibet area as the research object, based on the theory of spatial syntax, 30 building samples were subjected to global and local calculations of MD, I_RRA, and NACH values, while the common characteristics among the samples were obtained by using Kendall’s W test, and the individual characteristics among the samples were obtained by using differentiation analysis. The results show that: (a) vernacular architecture in the Yunnan–Tibet area exhibits characteristics of multi-cluster branched centrality and spatial hierarchical layout; (b) these architectures possess four categories of inheritance factors: the privacy of granary spaces, the centrality of corridor spaces, the passability of breeding areas, and the independence of scripture hall spaces; (c) these architectures possess three categories of differentiation factors: the functional evolution of traditional spaces, the spatial reconstruction of breeding areas, and the “Toilet Revolution” driven by multiple forces. This study elucidates the regulatory role of cultural continuity in shaping the spatial forms of vernacular architecture, providing new evidence for analyzing the formation mechanisms of vernacular architecture in the Yunnan–Tibet area. Full article

The landmark Philippine Supreme Court case Llorente vs. Llorente illuminates the complex intersections of transnational migration, inheritance law, and colonial legacies in the Philippines. The case centers on Lorenzo Llorente, a Filipino US Navy serviceman whose estate became the subject of a fifteen-year legal battle between his first wife Paula and his second wife Alicia. Lorenzo returned from the battles of World War II to find his wife in Nabua living with his brother and pregnant with his brother’s child. Lorenzo obtained a divorce in California in 1952. He later returned to the Philippines and married Alicia, naming her and their three adopted children as heirs in his will. Upon his death in 1985, Paula challenged the validity of the US divorce and claimed rights to Lorenzo’s estate under Philippine succession laws. While lower courts initially favored Paula’s claims by rigidly applying Philippine laws that are rooted in the colonial era and privileged blood relations, the Supreme Court ultimately upheld Lorenzo’s will in 2000, recognizing his right to divorce as a US citizen. This case reveals how postcolonial Philippine legal frameworks, still heavily influenced by Spanish colonial law, often fail to accommodate the complex realities of transnational families and diverse kinship practices, instead imposing rigid interpretations that fracture rather than heal family relations. Inheritance, previously a highly shared and negotiated process mediated by the elders, can now escalate to family disputes which play out in the impersonal space of the courtroom. Full article