Search Results (1,585)

This study explores the formation of diaspora worship among the English-speaking exile community in Geneva during the mid-sixteenth century and its decisive role in shaping the theological and political identity of the Second Reformation. By examining the leadership of John Knox and the compilation of The Forme of Prayers (1556), the research investigates how the experience of displacement facilitated a radical departure from the liturgical compromises of the Church of England. The study begins by analyzing the “troubles” at Frankfurt (1554–1555), where the conflict between the “Prayer Book party” and the “Geneva faction” catalyzed the adoption of the Regulative Principle of Worship as a defensive mechanism for faith. It then evaluates the socio-ecclesiastical institutionalization of the community in Geneva, as evidenced by the Livre des Anglois, and the theological framework of their resulting liturgy. Key elements (including covenantal confession based on the “remnant” identity, the sacraments as “visible Word,” and the pedagogical function of metrical psalmody) are analyzed as paradigms for religious identity construction within a refugee context. Furthermore, the paper traces the intellectual output of this diaspora, such as the Geneva Bible and radical resistance theory, which provided the theological blueprint for the “Genevanization” of Scotland and the emergence of Elizabethan Puritanism. Ultimately, this research presents the Genevan exile experience as a sophisticated model of “diaspora faith,” demonstrating how marginalized religious communities utilize theological innovation, institutional autonomy, and media technology to transform from the periphery into a central force of historical and political change. Full article

Cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) co-contamination in construction and demolition waste landfill soils presents a significant challenge to ecosystem health, necessitating effective remediation strategies. This study investigated a synergistic approach combining a composite amendment (compost, superphosphate, desulfurized gypsum) with seven plant species to elucidate the interactions driving metal immobilization and phytoextraction. The amendment significantly altered soil properties: it reduced total Cd while increasing its bioavailability, and enhanced soil fertility (e.g., elevated organic matter and total nitrogen). Plant responses varied: Solanum americanum Mill. and Tagetes patula L. exhibited high Cd phytoextraction capacity, whereas Lolium perenne L. sequestered Cd/Pb primarily in roots. The bacterial community shifted from an oligotrophic, stress-tolerant state (e.g., Sphingomonas-dominated) in contaminated soil to a copiotrophic, functionally active state (e.g., Streptomyces-enriched) in amended soil. Community structure was strongly correlated with available Cd, pH, and nutrient levels. Key microbial biomarkers were specifically enriched in different plant rhizospheres. In contrast, the fungal community exhibited minimal responsiveness. These findings demonstrate that remediation efficiency is governed by an integrated “amendment–plant–microbe” framework: amendments regulate metal bioavailability, plants execute extraction or stabilization, and the restructured microbiome supports nutrient cycling and plant health. This integrated remediation strategy directly supports the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda, especially on environmentally sound management of chemicals and wastes and land degradation neutrality. This mechanistic understanding underscores the necessity of combined biological and chemical strategies for sustainable remediation of co-contaminated soils, ultimately enabling ecological reclamation and safe recycling of such urban marginal lands into productive uses. Full article

This study examines how Black women navigate spiritual widowhood and cosmological disinheritance in contemporary America through the biblical figure of Ruth. Employing what I call a critical embodied epistemology (CEE)—a womanist methodology integrating Hortense Spillers’ hieroglyphics of the flesh, Michel Foucault’s genealogical analysis, and Emilie Townes’ ethical reimagination—this article analyzes Ruth’s transgressive movements as a template for sacred belonging beyond State-sanctioned citizenship. Against the backdrop of reproductive rights rollbacks, voting restrictions, and the political rejection of Black women’s leadership, the research reveals how African-descended cosmology offers alternative frameworks for community, covenant, and citizenship. Findings demonstrate that Ruth’s embodied risk on the threshing floor models what I term “faith in the fracture”—an insurgent spirituality that refuses to tether sacred belonging to empire. The study contributes to womanist theology, political theology, and diaspora studies by theorizing sacred citizenship as relational rather than national, and by centering embodied knowledge as theological epistemology. Implications include reconceptualizing belonging for all marginalized communities navigating displacement, State abandonment, and cosmological rupture. Full article

This study presents a measurement-driven comparison of LoRa communication performance in two tropical deployment scenarios at 923.2 MHz: an open line-of-sight (LOS) path and a forest-obstructed path. To ensure a controlled comparison, both scenarios were evaluated over the same transmission distance of 1.2 km using identical radio configuration, antenna heights, and hardware settings. Field measurements were conducted from 50 m to 1.2 km in 50 m increments, with three repeated measurements at each distance point. The measured RSSI decreased from −60.52 dBm to −89.48 dBm in the LOS case and from −77.62 dBm to −114.62 dBm in the forested case. Using a bandwidth of 125 kHz and a receiver noise figure of 6 dB, the corresponding estimated SNR at 1.2 km was 27.55 dB for the LOS path and 2.41 dB for the forested path. Relative to the free-space baseline, the measured LOS link showed a deviation of 31.14 dB at 1.2 km, while the forested link showed a deviation of 56.28 dB. The additional attenuation specifically associated with the forested environment was approximately 25.14 dB, with a mean excess loss of 24.70 dB over the full route. Regression analysis further yielded effective path-loss exponents of 2.31 for the LOS case and 3.22 for the forested case. Based on these results, a site-specific empirical correction approach and an approximate 25 dB first-order design margin are suggested for preliminary LoRa link-budget planning in similar tropical vegetated environments. The findings indicate that free-space-only prediction may be insufficient for practical deployment and that measurement-driven correction can improve the realism of wireless sensor network design in vegetation-rich environments. Full article

Near-bit multi-parameter MWD (measurement while drilling) is a key technology for achieving precise and efficient directional drilling in underground and tunnel engineering. The near-bit multi-parameter MWD method was studied, and a “center + side wall” distributed measurement scheme was proposed, based on an analysis of special application scenarios in underground and tunnel engineering. The transmission characteristics of Bluetooth wireless signals in water were investigated. An analysis of the underwater Bluetooth signal link was conducted. When the transmission distance is 100 mm, the received signal strength is −17.5 dBm, and the link margin is 69.5 dB. Wireless Bluetooth was used to transmit the near-bit data. A Bluetooth wireless communication simulation model was established using ANSYS software, and the influence of transmission power, transmission medium, and transmission distance on the Bluetooth signal strength was analyzed. The results indicate that: (1) the received signal strength increases with transmission power, and appropriately increasing the transmission power can improve the effect of Bluetooth wireless communication and extend the communication distance. (2) When the transmission medium is water, the received signal is unstable, and the echo loss curve shows a high and low oscillation form, presenting a frequency shift feature; when the transmission medium is air, the received signal is relatively stable, and the echo loss curve shows a parabolic form. The echo loss of Bluetooth wireless signal in water transmission is significantly higher than that in air transmission, indicating that the Bluetooth signal attenuates more rapidly when transmitted in water. (3) When the transmission distance increases near the optimal transmission frequency of 2.4 GHz, the echo loss increases accordingly, and the received signal strength of the wireless receiving module gradually decreases. The theoretical analysis, simulation, and indoor test results are in good agreement. The reasonable Bluetooth transmission power is 1 mW, and the transmission distance is 100 mm. After completing the overall scheme design and simulation analysis optimization, the structure, circuit, and program development were carried out, and the near-bit multi-parameter MWD device was developed. A laboratory water supply test was conducted, and the power supply, collection, and wireless transmission were all normal. A drilling test was carried out at an underground engineering of a coal mine in Wuhai City, achieving a drilling depth of 2328 m. A continuous and stable collection of various parameters such as WOB (weight on bit), torque, rotation speed, vibration, and gamma was carried out. A wireless transmission channel for near-bit data was established across the screw drilling tool. It can provide key technical support for the research and development of near-bit MWD in underground and tunnel engineering. Full article

Background/Objectives: Sarcopenia—the progressive loss of skeletal muscle mass and function—is a growing public health challenge in ageing populations. Island territories face compounded vulnerabilities due to distinct epidemiological and socio-economic profiles. This study examines sarcopenia risk prevalence among community-dwelling older adults in Tenerife (Canary Islands, Spain) and estimates the economic burden alongside the cost-effectiveness of evidence-based interventions. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 374 community-dwelling older adults (mean age 80.4 years, SD 4.8; 51.1% female) recruited from primary care health centres across three health zones in Tenerife. Participants were stratified into a control group without established chronic disease-related functional decline (Group 1; n = 274) and a case group with multimorbidity and functional limitations (Group 3; n = 100). Sarcopenia risk was assessed using the SARC-F questionnaire (threshold ≥ 4). A comprehensive geriatric battery—including the Barthel Index, FRAIL scale, MNA-SF, Pfeiffer test, SPPB, handgrip dynamometry, and IPAQ—characterised multidimensional vulnerability. Annual direct and indirect costs were estimated using unit costs from Spanish national health accounts, and intervention cost-effectiveness was modelled using published meta-analytic data. Results: Overall sarcopenia risk prevalence was 36.4% (n = 136; SARC-F ≥ 4), rising to 83.0% in the case group versus 19.3% in controls (OR ≈ 21.5, p < 0.001). Prevalence was 42.1% in males and 30.9% in females. Diabetes was independently associated with elevated risk (44.8% vs. 29.9%; OR 1.90, 95% CI 1.23–2.92; p = 0.003). Health Zone 1 exhibited the highest prevalence (63.0%) versus Zones 2 (23.5%) and 3 (32.8%). Multidimensional vulnerability was pervasive: 28.6% of participants were frail, 75.7% had nutritional compromise, 11.5% showed moderate cognitive impairment, and 89.8% reported low or no physical activity. The estimated annual socio-economic cost of sarcopenia in Tenerife is approximately EUR 88.9 million (Spain nationally: EUR 12.1 billion). Combined exercise–nutrition interventions yield cost-per-QALY ratios of EUR 3800–7000, far below Spain’s EUR 25,000/QALY threshold. Conclusions: Sarcopenia constitutes a major, multidimensionally compounded health burden in Tenerife’s older population, concentrated among frail, diabetic, nutritionally compromised, and physically inactive individuals. The economic case for universal SARC-F screening and multicomponent intervention is compelling, exceeding cost-effectiveness thresholds by a wide margin. Territorial disparities in burden call for equity-oriented, place-based resource allocation within the Canarian health system. Full article

(1) Background: Climate change and inequality are topics of major interest in Mediterranean Archaeology. However, comparatively less attention has been dedicated to how these themes are interlinked in the literature. No scoping review has ever addressed this issue. This study aims to identify major research trends on inequality and climate change in the Mediterranean c. 4000 BC–AD 500. It also pinpoints current research gaps on the topic and nascent areas of enquiry. (2) Method: We performed a scoping review on JSTOR, Scopus, Google Scholar and PubMed in December 2025–January 2026. A modified version of the PRISMA-ScR protocol was followed. We sampled journal articles, book chapters, edited volumes and monographs published between 2015 and 2025 which matched the search and inclusion criteria. Additional searches were done on Google Scholar in February 2026 to expand upon emerging research trends relevant to our topic but largely absent from the scoping review. We manually extracted, charted, analysed and synthesised the data. (3) Results: A total of 154 studies were eligible for the scoping review. We identified six research trends prominent in the sampled literature: 1. the rise and fall of world systems, macroscale causal links, and collapse research; 2. inequality, subalternity, and marginality; 3. agriculture, crops, and diet; 4. natural resource management, and water supply; 5. epistemology and methodology; and 6. natural archives and climate proxy datasets. We also recognised the following research gaps or topics that were comparatively less addressed: collapse research applied to the microscale level and marginalised communities; isotope analysis applied to both climate change and inequality in the same study; biomedical approaches applied to both climate change and inequality in the same study; social marginality as a complex construct in human–climate interactions; and the environmental and climate dimensions of the early Roman expansion, especially regarding marginality and the microscale. Finally, we identified artificial intelligence (AI), Big Data, environmental and climate activism, and the perception of climate hazards by subaltern communities as nascent topics of interest that might rise to prominence in the future. (4) Conclusions: We identified major research trends and gaps on climate change and inequality in the ancient Mediterranean in literature published 2015–2025. We also recognised nascent or unexplored topics. The review is intended as a benchmark for developing novel research on the cutting-edge of Mediterranean Archaeology. Full article

Contemporary studies of religious modernity tend to view faith systems as static traditions that resist secularization. Although it has recently been acknowledged that local religions may be resilient, scholars often overlook the internal creativity of action that enables such faiths to actively navigate secular constraints. To address this gap, this study investigates a shamanistic folk religion, the Moed faith, to answer a critical question: How can a marginalized religious system innovate to survive within a strict secular order without compromising its spiritual principles? This paper proposes Performative Adaptation as a mechanism of religious creativity by combining historical analysis and ethnographic data through the lens of Actor-Network Theory. It argues that the Moed faith reassembles itself as a dynamic ritual-art continuum rather than remaining a fixed entity. The findings reveal that practitioners actively separate ritual form from function, transforming sacred exorcism chants into the secular performing art of Modlaenz to secure Intangible Cultural Heritage status. Furthermore, this adaptation fosters a transnational Pan-Tai spiritual community, turning rigid geopolitical borders into zones of cultural contact. Ultimately, this research challenges the view of religion as merely a repository of tradition, demonstrating that faith systems can actively engage in institutional innovation and identity construction. Full article

The National Register of Historic Places (NR) is a structured artifact of meaning-making that encodes disciplinary values linking architectural and cultural significance to wealth and stylistic distinction. In doing so, it systematically underrepresents vernacular, working-class, and the built environments of racially and ethnically marginalized communities. This paper uses artificial intelligence (AI) to examine how that meaning is constructed. We analyze the preservation record across three scales: a national dataset of 100,117 NR listings (1966–2025), a state-level profile of Illinois’s 1997 NR listings, and a close analysis of Lake Forest, Illinois, a community whose exceptional concentration of NR-listed estate architecture makes it an ideal site for examining how preservation significance has been defined and what it excludes. Two parallel AI methods are applied to eighteen Lake Forest nomination documents and their associated photographs. Natural Language Processing (NLP) analyzes nomination text to trace how preservation professionals connect buildings to cultural value; blind AI image analysis examines the same properties to assess how a model trained on cultural imagery constructs visual meaning independently. NLP analysis reveals a corpus dominated by architectural description, with social history, landscape, and labor systematically underrepresented. The visual analysis confirms and amplifies the nomination record’s class-based assumptions while reproducing the same omissions regarding labor, diversity, and community context. These findings inform debates about AI’s potential to audit existing listings and support nominations for underrepresented property types, while showing that without deliberate corrective design and policy reform, such tools are as likely to replicate the preservation system’s inequities as to repair them. Full article

Subsurface freshwater in oceanic islands is typically shaped like a thin lens due to limited land area and recharge, often the primary freshwater source for local communities and highly vulnerable to seawater intrusion (SWI). Freshwater injection (FI) is considered as a feasible strategy for mitigating SWI in coastal aquifers. However, its transient effectiveness for freshwater lens (FWL) development and SWI mitigation in island aquifers and how the design parameters like FI depth, intensity, duration and injectant concentration affect its performance remain poorly understood. To address this, this study employs a two-dimensional, variable-density island groundwater model to simulate the transient responses of FWL development and SWI mitigation to various FI patterns. Five indicators are developed for comprehensive evaluation, including (1) freshwater recovery efficiency (FRE), and the relative changes in (2) average water table elevation (WTE), (3) FWL depth, (4) FWL volume, and (5) total aquifer salt mass. Results reveal FI universally raises average WTE, expands FWL dimensions, and promotes aquifer desalinization. Injection intensity is the primary driver of WTE rises and salt mass reduction, with higher intensities consistently yielding greater WTE rises and salt mass reductions. Deeper injection within the mixing zone increases FWL depth, but reduces the net gain in FWL volume. Moreover, early-stage FI is highly efficient for expanding FWL volume, often yielding FRE values above 100%, but FRE converges toward zero over time as the system moves toward a new hydrodynamic equilibrium, returning diminishing marginal benefits for long-term FI. Full article

Subsurface freshwater in oceanic islands is typically shaped like a thin lens due to limited land area and recharge, often the primary freshwater source for local communities and highly vulnerable to seawater intrusion (SWI). Saltwater abstraction (SA) is considered as a feasible strategy for mitigating SWI. However, its transient effectiveness for freshwater lens (FWL) development and SWI mitigation in island aquifers, and how the design parameters like SA depth, intensity, and duration affect its performance, remain poorly understood. Therefore, this study employs a two-dimensional, variable-density island groundwater model to simulate the transient responses of FWL development and SWI mitigation to various SA patterns. Six indicators are developed for comprehensive evaluation, including: (1) freshwater recovery efficiency, and the relative changes in (2) average water table elevation (WTE), (3) WTE at the SA well, (4) FWL depth, (5) fresh groundwater volume, and (6) total aquifer salt mass. Simulation results highlight SA depth as the primary determinant of its effectiveness, characterized by critical thresholds that dictate whether SA imposes net positive or negative effects on FWL depth, volume, and aquifer desalinization, with SA intensity and duration serving as scaling factors that amplify the magnitude of these responses. Moreover, while SA can effectively expand FWL volume and shift it toward a more favorable hydrodynamic equilibrium, the diminishing marginal benefits over time cause the FRE to approach zero, indicating SA is a potent short-term restoration strategy rather than a long-term solution from a cost–benefit perspective. Full article

Automatic license plate reader (ALPR) cameras and gunshot detection system (GDS) technology represent rapidly expanding forms of surveillance. Despite their prevalence, empirical literature regarding these tools remains limited, particularly concerning their geographic distribution across the United States. This study addresses this gap by conducting a geospatial analysis of crowdsourced ALPR and GDS locations throughout Virginia. Utilizing Geographic Information Systems (GIS), we mapped the concentrations of this technology and analyzed the racial demographic profiles of the most heavily surveilled communities. Our results identify distinct clusters of surveillance technology hubs across Virginia. In these high-intensity areas, surveillance technology is frequently concentrated in and around communities of color. These findings carry an array of implications, including the risk that over-surveilled neighborhoods may disproportionately suffer from the abuse or misuse of these tools. Furthermore, this distribution reflects a historical legacy within the criminal justice system of disproportionately monitoring marginalized populations. The limitations of this analysis are equally revealing: the reliance on crowdsourced data due to a lack of verifiable, publicly accessible coordinates underscores an ongoing lack of transparency. Full article

Dementia care research has been largely shaped by Western biomedical and cognitive paradigms that privilege verbal, linear, and memory-dependent methods of data collection. While these approaches have generated valuable insights, they also reproduce epistemic and ethical limitations, particularly in cross-cultural contexts. Linguistic dominance, culturally mismatched diagnostic and care frameworks, and reliance on caregivers as proxy informants can marginalize culturally and linguistically diverse communities and risk pathologizing cultural difference as cognitive deficit. In response, this conceptual paper advances a participatory arts-based framework for cross-cultural dementia care research that centers multiple ways of knowing beyond language. Drawing on principles of co-creation, shared decision-making, reflexivity, power-sharing, and relational ethics, the framework positions people living with dementia as collaborators rather than subjects. It articulates five interrelated dimensions: (1) modes of expression (visual, embodied, sensory, and performative); (2) forms of participation (co-design, co-creation, and co-analysis); (3) cultural situatedness of meaning-making; (4) relational ethics, including ongoing assent, trust, and reciprocity; and (5) intersectionality across culture, gender, migration, class, and caregiving roles. The paper illustrates how participatory arts-based methods, such as photovoice, body mapping, collaborative art-making, and sensory storytelling, can enable culturally resonant engagement across stages of dementia while addressing power asymmetries inherent in conventional research designs. By foregrounding embodied, sensory, and culturally grounded forms of expression, this framework offers a critical reorientation of dementia care research toward more inclusive, ethical, and culturally responsive knowledge production in diverse care contexts. Full article

Home energy management systems (HEMS) aim to provide intelligent control of the thermal comfort inside smart buildings with the minimum energy cost, while satisfying the energy consumption requests and increasing the use of energy from renewable sources. The capabilities of these intelligent HEMS agents are restricted due to the personalized observability of the environment, resulting in limited knowledge gathering and potentially sub-optimal decisions. Furthermore, several buildings have recently been organized into small energy communities, with the ultimate goal of sharing intelligence between agents in federated learning schemes.In this context, we propose a personalized federated deep reinforcement learning method using Moreau envelopes (pFedMe) for joint energy cost and household comfort optimization in energy communities that consist of multiple smart homes. Specifically, a Twin-Delayed Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient (TD3) actor–critic model is introduced, dynamically observing the state of the smart home environment and suggesting control actions on the operation of the Energy Storage System and on the regulation of the indoor temperature. The TD3 actor–critic model leads to improved policy performance in the continuous control of these systems, mitigating the overestimation bias and improving the training stability of the intelligent agents. The efficiency of the proposed method is verified via simulations based on real data, achieving a beneficial trade-off between the energy cost and the thermal comfort compared to FedAvg and Fedprox baselines. The results show that the proposed pFedMe framework consistently outperforms FedAvg and FedProx in both convergence speed and overall reward, achieving an energy cost reduction of approximately 10% compared to the other schemes, while exhibiting marginal thermal comfort behavior. Full article

The United States faces a worsening maternal mortality crisis that starkly contrasts with trends in other high-income nations. Maternal mortality rates (MMRs) have more than doubled over the past two decades, rising from 9.65 deaths per 100,000 live births in 1999–2002 to 23.6 in 2018–2021, with approximately 700 deaths annually. Black and American Indian/Alaska Native women experience maternal mortality rates two to three times higher than their White counterparts, reflecting persistent structural inequities rather than biological differences. This narrative review synthesizes current evidence on the underlying drivers of racial inequities in maternal mortality and evaluates evidence-based interventions and policy strategies to address these disparities. A comprehensive literature review between 2000 and 2025 was conducted using databases including PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar, focusing on studies examining clinical, social, and structural determinants of maternal health outcomes, as well as evidence-based interventions and maternal health policy. Targeted searches of policy reports and grey literature were also performed to identify relevant policy initiatives and system-level interventions. Key contributors to disparities include underlying health conditions, postpartum mental health inequities, provider shortages, and limited access to postpartum care, with pregnancy-associated breast cancer (PABC) representing a less common but clinically significant risk factor that warrants further investigation in the context of racial inequities. Structural racism and socioeconomic disparities further exacerbate inequities through differential access to care, treatment bias, and barriers to healthcare utilization. System-level challenges, including workforce shortages, maternity care deserts, and the absence of federally mandated paid maternity leave, disproportionately impact marginalized populations. Although policy initiatives such as Medicaid postpartum coverage extensions, the Maternal Health Momnibus Act, and Maternal Mortality Review Committees represent important progress, they remain insufficient without broader structural reform. Evidence-based interventions, including midwife- and doula-led care, community-based peer support, and culturally tailored mental health programs, demonstrate measurable improvements in maternal outcomes. Outcomes of this review highlight the need for a comprehensive, equity-centered approach to reducing maternal mortality disparities, emphasizing structural reform, expanded access to care, strengthened data systems, and community-driven solutions. Full article