Search Results (357)

Background: Eating-rate regulation is a multidimensional behavioral process shaped by oral-processing dynamics, interoceptive cues, sensory engagement, and contextual influences. Despite its relevance, no validated self-report instrument currently assesses these mechanisms. Methods: The Food Consumption Rate Questionnaire (FCRQ) was developed as a behaviorally informed tool for measuring eating-rate regulation. Item generation followed a theory-driven process supported by expert review, forward–backward translation, and pilot testing. Structural validity was examined through Exploratory Factor Analysis (Principal Axis Factoring, Promax rotation) and a theory-driven Confirmatory Factor Analysis evaluating the proposed four-domain model. Reliability was assessed using Cronbach’s α and corrected item–total correlations. Behavioral heterogeneity was explored using hierarchical and k-means cluster analysis. Results: A clear four-factor structure emerged—Slowness, Awareness of Eating Rate, External Factors, and Awareness & Enjoyment—explaining 42.77% of the variance. CFA indicated acceptable model fit (CFI = 0.93, TLI = 0.91, RMSEA = 0.052), supporting the adequacy of the theoretical structure. Reliability indices were consistent with the multidimensional nature of the construct. All four domains were positively correlated. Cluster analysis identified distinct behavioral profiles, illustrating the instrument’s discriminative capacity. Conclusions: The FCRQ provides the first behaviorally informed, psychometrically evaluated framework for assessing eating-rate regulation. The instrument demonstrates a coherent theoretical structure, satisfactory early-stage validity, and the ability to differentiate meaningful behavioral patterns. Continued refinement and validation across diverse populations will further establish the FCRQ as a robust measure for behavioral-nutrition research and practice. Full article

Under globalization, architectural forms, spatial logic, and consumption experiences have become increasingly homogeneous, making placelessness particularly evident in large-scale commercial complexes. Establishing meaningful connections between globalized commercial spaces and local culture, urban memory, and everyday life has consequently become an important issue in research on architectural cultural sustainability. Guided by critical regionalism, this study takes placelessness as its point of departure and cultural sustainability as its evaluative perspective. It develops a two-level analytical framework comprising architectural analysis and user perception evaluation and applies this framework to the Chengdu New Century Global Center. Architectural analysis examines the building’s objective characteristics in terms of spatial image, functional organization, environmental setting, and cultural expression. User perception data were collected through a questionnaire survey and semi-structured interviews, followed by descriptive statistics and comparative analysis across four corresponding dimensions: spatial, functional, environmental, and cultural perception. The results indicate that the building’s megascale form, contemporary architectural appearance, and multifunctional organization contribute to higher levels of spatial and functional perception. Environmental perception is also relatively positive, although deficiencies remain in resting facilities, route organization, and detailed spatial experience. By contrast, cultural perception is substantially lower than the other dimensions. The marine theme, exoticized settings, and entertainment-oriented imagery are more closely associated with a globalized consumer landscape than with the spatial translation of Chengdu’s local culture, urban memory, and everyday life. Consequently, the building’s thematic identity has not been effectively translated into users’ recognition of place-specific characteristics, suggesting that the production of commercial complex space continues to prioritize consumption efficiency over cultural expression. By operationalizing the critical regionalist concept of sense of place as an empirically assessable analytical tool, this study extends its applicability to large-scale commercial complexes and provides a diagnostic framework and practical strategies for enhancing their cultural sustainability. Full article

Background: The transition towards a more sustainable global economy requires meaningful changes in the way organisations purchase products across industrial value chains. Whilst extensive research has explored sustainable consumption within the business-to-consumer (B2C) space, comparatively little research has examined the antecedents of sustainable purchasing intent within business-to-business (B2B) environments. Existing literature has predominantly focused on individual behavioural determinants, and has under-explored the organisational, informational and product-level antecedents that shape sustainable purchasing decisions within industrial contexts. Objectives: This research explores the antecedents of sustainable purchasing intent within the chemical and ingredients value chain, and develops a novel integrated framework, the Business-to-Business Sustainable Buying Behaviour (B2B-SBB) Model, capable of explaining sustainable purchasing intent within the B2B setting. Methods: An abductive, mixed-methods, single-case study design was adopted, set within the customer base of a global chemical and ingredient distributor. Twelve semi-structured interviews were conducted with purchasing professionals across six end-market segments, and a quantitative survey generated 57 complete responses from a global customer base. Qualitative data were analysed through thematic analysis, and quantitative data through descriptive statistics and Wilcoxon Signed Rank testing. Results: The findings indicate that organisational antecedents, including buying centre process and responsibilities, corporate sustainability commitments, and information flow, exert materially greater influence on B2B sustainable purchasing intent than individual behavioural antecedents. Product sustainability claim variables emerge as a distinct and material antecedent, with a strong and statistically significant preference for third-party assured claims over self-declared claims. A structural value–action gap is also observed between publicly stated sustainability commitments and observed purchasing behaviour. Conclusions: The findings indicate that sustainable purchasing intent within the B2B chemical value chain is best understood through an integrated framework combining individual, organisational, environmental, product sustainability and information-flow antecedents. The proposed B2B-SBB Model provides such a framework, and offers both theoretical extension of existing scholarship and practical application for organisations seeking to accelerate the adoption of more sustainable products within industrial value chains. Full article

Green ODA supports renewable energy and low-carbon structural transformation. Limited studies have explicitly evaluated whether Green ODA reduces emissions or examined the structural conditions that enable climate-oriented aid to produce meaningful decarbonisation outcomes. In this study, we examined the relationship between Green ODA and carbon dioxide emissions and investigated whether this relationship differs across the stages of renewable energy transition. Using annual panel data for 63 developing countries selected from the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) List of ODA Recipients, including low-income, lower-middle-income, and eligible upper-middle-income economies, between 2010 and 2021, a dynamic panel threshold regression model was employed, with renewable energy consumption as the threshold variable. Renewable energy consumption was significantly associated with lower carbon emissions. However, the effects of Green ODA varied depending on the level of renewable energy development. The estimated threshold value for renewable energy consumption was 78.2%. When renewable energy consumption remained below this threshold, Green ODA was associated with increased carbon emissions. Following threshold exceedance, the effect became negative, although it remained statistically insignificant. These findings suggest that the relationship between Green ODA and carbon emissions differs across the stages of renewable energy transition in recipient countries. Full article

New health-promoting food ingredients should combine nutritional functionality, traceable production and sustainable sourcing. Freshwater and brackish gammarid amphipods are usually considered ecological indicators, fish prey or invasive crustaceans, but their biochemical and ecological traits suggest a candidate role as low-trophic aquatic biomass. This narrative review evaluates gammarids primarily as EPA-oriented crustacean biomass and as a potential source of protein, minerals, chitinous material and processing fractions for feed, supplement and functional-food research. Available data indicate meaningful long-chain omega-3 content, especially EPA, but direct evidence for human health effects, bioavailability, clinical efficacy and industrial cultivation remains limited. Wild harvest is unlikely to provide a safe or standardized raw material. The central proposition is, therefore, that gammarid-derived ingredients should be developed through controlled benthic production systems, followed by hygienization, fractionation and safety validation. The most realistic near-term pathway is not direct consumption of whole animals, but standardized feed ingredients, EPA-oriented lipid blends, protein–lipid fractions and supplement-grade materials after regulatory assessment. The review distinguishes established evidence from technological hypotheses and identifies the research required before gammarids can be considered reliable industrial ingredients. Full article

Countries face interconnected policy challenges: population aging, fertility change, migration, urbanization, labor transitions, food and water security, climate risk, health-system demand, school planning, housing pressure, consumption planning, and spatial inequality. Yet planning evidence is often fragmented across ministries, statistical offices, surveys, administrative systems, research projects, and dashboards. This paper proposes the Population-Based Systems Model, or PopSyM, as a country-owned analytical infrastructure that places population dynamics at the center of integrated policy planning. PopSyM begins with a demographic spine by age, sex, location, year, and scenario, then links that spine to modules for health, education, food, labor, housing, social protection, environment, and local infrastructure. Its purpose is not projection for its own sake, but the measurement and improvement of population well-being: longer and healthier lives, adequate material conditions, skills, meaningful work, security, dignity, and country-specific dimensions of a good life. Nepal is used as a motivating example, but the proposed architecture is general. The paper argues that the population should be treated not only as a denominator for indicators but also as the organizing framework through which countries understand future demand, vulnerability, consumption needs, policy trade-offs, and feedback between people and systems. Full article

Background and Objectives: Evidence on the acute ergogenic effects of caffeine in adolescent athletes remains limited. This systematic review quantified acute performance-related effects and summarised adverse-event reporting in this population. Methods: PubMed and Web of Science were searched from inception to 13 May 2026 and SPORTDiscus was additionally searched from inception to 15 July 2026 for placebo-controlled studies of acute, dose-defined caffeine ingestion in adolescent athletes aged 10–19 years. Paired Hedges’ g values were synthesised separately across six outcome domains using three-level random-effects models with CR2 cluster-robust inference. Risk of bias and certainty of evidence were assessed using RoB 2 and GRADE. Safety findings were summarised narratively. Results: Thirty-five studies were included, of which 32, representing a total of 726 participants, contributed 363 effect sizes. In the primary analysis, which excluded a priori a small number of extreme combat-sport count-test effects arising from implausibly small reported standard deviations (Hedges’ g > 3.0), caffeine produced a small favourable average effect on physical performance (g = 0.33, 95% CI 0.17 to 0.49). When all effect sizes were included in a sensitivity analysis, the estimate was larger but inflated by these extreme values (g = 0.43, 95% CI 0.20 to 0.67) and was accompanied by substantial heterogeneity (I² = 84%), a prediction interval crossing the null (−0.71 to 1.58), and significant small-study asymmetry. Pooled effects were not statistically significant for sport-specific performance, perceptual response, or physiology. Cognitive findings were based on only two study clusters and were highly uncertain, while psychological outcomes were summarised narratively because the evidence was too sparse and heterogeneous for a meaningful pooled estimate. Exploratory moderator analyses did not provide reliable evidence that effects differed by caffeine dose or ingestion timing. No serious adverse events were reported, but adverse-event assessment was inconsistent. Conclusions: Acute caffeine ingestion may produce a small and uncertain benefit for selected physical-performance tasks in adolescent athletes. Adverse-event reporting was inconsistent, and current evidence is insufficient to support routine caffeine use in youth sport. These findings are specific to acute caffeine exposure under controlled experimental conditions in adolescent athletes and should not be extrapolated to children, non-athlete adolescents, repeated or chronic caffeine use, or energy-drink consumption. Full article

Political consumerism is frequently celebrated as an expansion of youth political participation or critiqued for its structural ineffectiveness to advance young people’s political contestations. Moving beyond this evaluative binary, this article investigates its underexplored cultural and affective implications. It defines the paradox of political consumerism as a condition in which young people’s political intent is channelled through consumer choice, only to be pre-emptively neutralised by the very neoliberal ‘business ontology’ it seeks to resist. This article interrogates this paradox through a series of focus groups in the United Kingdom and Greece among ‘neoliberal natives’; a unique generational unit whose entire civic socialisation has occurred within a totalised market logic, anchored by the historic, unfulfilled promises of the Brexit and Grexit moments. Informed by Critical and Cultural theory, the analysis explores how political consumption functions simultaneously as a meaningful political gesture and an ideological constraint. Rather than dismissing youth commitments as superficial, the article situates them within a broader political economy that individualises responsibility, commodifies dissent, and constrains their political imagination. What emerges is an ambivalent subjectivity: a generation that knows very well the limits of their market-based engagement—yet continues to participate in it. Full article

Heritage museums increasingly seek to support visitors as active meaning-makers during the visit and to extend that experience beyond the museum through personally meaningful takeaways. Generative AI (GenAI) may support this goal by helping visitors transform museum source material into personalized artifacts, but open-ended generation may weaken heritage linkage and obscure curatorial responsibility. This paper proposes two paired design principles for heritage GenAI: bounded creativity, which defines what visitors may change, and curatorial accountability, which defines how cultural limits are set, explained, and revised. We implemented these principles at the Lanting Calligraphy Museum in Shaoxing, China, through a visit-linked co-creation system. Visitors collected source images during the museum tour and later created a personalized 3D-printed takeaway through either a rule-based editor with predefined templates and options or a GenAI-mediated dialogue interface. A between-subjects field study with adult visitors (N = 60; 20 per condition) compared conventional consumption (a standard tour and souvenir), rule-based co-creation, and GenAI-mediated co-creation. Both co-creation pathways improved cultural engagement, perceived connection to heritage sources, personal meaning and self-expression, and psychological ownership compared with conventional consumption. The GenAI-mediated pathway produced further gains in cultural engagement, personal meaning, self-expression, and psychological ownership. Still, it did not reliably increase perceived connection to heritage sources beyond that of the rule-based pathway. These findings suggest that the GenAI pathway added value mainly on personal authenticity and psychological ownership, by helping visitors articulate and revise intentions within accountable cultural boundaries; its incremental effect on heritage-linked authenticity remains undetermined at this sample size. Full article

Natural macromolecules and biopolymers are central components in biological, food, pharmaceutical, and materials systems. Pectins, polysaccharides, cellulose, lignin, chitin, chitosan, polyhydroxyalkanoates, proteins, and macromolecular complexes can be recovered from renewable matrices or modified to obtain specific technological functions. Hydrodynamic cavitation is assessed as an intensification platform for the recovery and processing of these fractions. Attention is directed to the relationship between process configuration, molecular structure, and final performance. Extraction yield alone is not considered sufficient to define the technological value of the treatment. Matrix disintegration, mass transfer, dispersion, emulsification, fibrillation, controlled depolymerization, and structural modification are considered. Reactor configuration, operating severity, fraction stability, molecular characterization, rheological properties, colloidal behavior, energy consumption, and scale-up transferability are also evaluated. The available evidence, including representative quantitative and functional descriptors reported in the literature, indicates that hydrodynamic cavitation should not be interpreted as a universally superior technology. Its relevance is stronger when a measurable, reproducible, and functionally meaningful advantage is demonstrated against appropriate controls and alternative technologies. Full article

Social media has become a central arena for informal learning and civic participation, yet its capacity to convert exposure into meaningful sustainability engagement remains uncertain. This study examines the role of social media in enhancing awareness of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) among Arab youth and explores how digital platforms function as spaces for informal learning. A cross-sectional quantitative survey was administered to 370 respondents aged 17–45 across several Arab countries (primarily the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Jordan, and Algeria—countries selected because they are among the region’s most digitally connected societies and jointly represent the Gulf, Levantine, and North African sub-regions), measuring social media usage patterns, levels of SDG awareness, and forms of digital engagement; the data were analysed using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics (Pearson correlations, t-tests, and one-way ANOVA) that tested four hypotheses derived from an integrated research model. The findings show that visually oriented platforms, particularly Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok, dominate youth media consumption, and that social media is the leading source of SDG-related information for the majority of respondents. However, engagement remains largely passive, confined to viewing, liking, and resharing content, revealing a persistent gap between awareness and active participation. The hypothesis tests confirm this pattern: SDG awareness is strongly associated with digital engagement (r = 0.71, p < 0.001), whereas breadth of platform use plays only a marginal role (r = 0.11, p = 0.044) and membership in sustainability-focused online groups confers no significant awareness advantage. Drawing on Uses and Gratifications Theory and Knowledge Management Theory, the study introduces the Digital Awareness–Engagement Conversion Model (DAECM), which conceptualizes the staged transition from digital exposure to engagement and advocacy. The results underline the need for interactive, localised, and youth-centred digital strategies that can translate passive awareness into sustained sustainability action. Given the non-probability sampling design, the findings are interpreted as exploratory. Full article

Despite rapid global growth in renewable energy capacity, fossil fuels still dominate the energy mix. Renewable energy firms often face limited access to bank credit because their asset-light, technology-intensive business models provide little collateral, constraining investment in clean energy deployment. This study examines whether China’s Fintech Reform Pilot Zones, which introduce digital technology-based credit evaluation, can alleviate these financing constraints and accelerate corporate energy transition. Using a staggered difference-in-differences design on a panel of Chinese listed renewable energy firms, we find that pilot zone designation significantly improves firms’ access to external financing and increases Energy Transition Depth (ETD) by approximately 3.6 percentage points, equivalent to 24.7% of the sample mean, indicating economically meaningful improvements in corporate energy transition. The strongest effects are observed in solar photovoltaic deployment and battery storage penetration. Greater energy transition is also associated with lower firm-level greenhouse gas emission intensity, suggesting potential environmental benefits. Mediation analysis identifies two complementary pathways: an innovation-accumulation route which advances renewable energy technology, and a capital-deployment route which supports renewable energy capacity expansion by relaxing firms’ general financing constraints. Regions with more developed renewable energy industries also exhibit lower fossil energy consumption and carbon emissions, suggesting potential regional spillover effects. These findings demonstrate that Fintech-enabled financial reform can facilitate renewable energy deployment and support broader energy transition and decarbonization, with important implications for emerging economies. Full article

Museums are increasingly recognized as important cultural institutions for promoting sustainability by shaping visitors’ values, experiences, and consumption-related decisions. This study investigates how interactive marketing in museum settings is associated with Generation Z visitors’ sustainable consumption intention and examines the conditions under which these effects become stronger. Drawing on the stimulus–organism–response (S–O–R) framework, this study develops a moderated dual-mediation model in which interactive marketing represents the stimulus, experience value and green self-identity function as parallel organismic mechanisms, and sustainable consumption intention represents the behavioral response, with perceived authenticity serving as a boundary condition. Survey data were collected from 582 Generation Z visitors in China who had recently visited museums equipped with digital or interactive facilities. Using multi-item Likert scales adapted to the museum sustainability context, the proposed model was examined through structural equation modeling, bootstrapped mediation analysis, and latent interaction analysis. The results indicate that interactive marketing is positively associated with experience value, green self-identity, and sustainable consumption intention. Furthermore, experience value and green self-identity both mediate the relationship between interactive marketing and sustainable consumption intention, revealing two complementary mechanisms through which interactive museum experiences become behaviorally meaningful: an experiential pathway and an identity-relevant pathway. The findings further demonstrate that perceived authenticity strengthens the effects of experience value and green self-identity on sustainable consumption intention, suggesting that sustainability-oriented responses are more likely to emerge when museum sustainability practices are perceived as genuine and consistent with institutional values. This study contributes to sustainable consumption research by extending the S–O–R framework to museum-based cultural consumption and highlights the importance of integrating interactive experience design with authentic sustainability communication. Full article

Background and Objectives: The clinical impact of hyperoxia, particularly its analgesic effects and potential pulmonary risks, remains controversial. This study investigated whether higher intraoperative arterial oxygen tension (PaO₂) reduces postoperative analgesic requirements and its association with postoperative pulmonary complications (PPCs). Materials and Methods: This retrospective cohort study included 1194 patients undergoing non-cardiac surgery. Patients were categorized into lower PaO₂ (PaO₂ ≤ 200 mmHg) and higher PaO₂ (PaO₂ > 200 mmHg) groups based on intraoperative arterial blood gas analysis. Overlap weighting was used to balance baseline characteristics and intraoperative variables. Primary outcomes included postoperative opioid consumption (measured in morphine milligram equivalents, MME) at 0–24 and 24–48 h. Secondary outcomes included pain intensity, frequency of rescue analgesics, the incidence of PPCs and in-hospital mortality. Results: After overlap weighting, the higher PaO₂ group showed significantly lower strong opioid consumption during the 24–48 h period compared to the lower PaO₂ group (0.22 ± 0.04 vs. 0.50 ± 0.11 MME; adjusted p = 0.014). The frequency of rescue analgesics was significantly reduced in the higher PaO₂ group (1.04 ± 0.06 vs. 1.35 ± 0.11; adjusted p = 0.007). However, pain intensity and the total MME for 0–24 h did not differ. There was no significant difference in the incidence of total PPCs or total adverse events between the two groups. Conclusions: Higher intraoperative PaO₂ was associated with a significant decrease in opioid requirements during the postoperative 24–48 h and frequency of rescue analgesics without increasing PPCs and adverse events. These findings support the need for prospective studies to determine whether higher intraoperative PaO₂ may have a clinically meaningful role in perioperative analgesic strategies. Full article

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global health crisis addressed through a One Health framework. However, recent European Union (EU) surveillance data reveals a marked divergence in progress between the human and animal sectors. This study analyzes the most recent monitoring reports (European Surveillance of Antimicrobial Consumption Network and European Sales and Use of Antimicrobials for Veterinary Medicine, 2024) to compare the effectiveness of mitigation strategies across sectors. The findings expose a clear paradox: while the veterinary sector has achieved a structural 24.3% reduction in antimicrobial sales in the EU since 2018, human medicine has recorded a 2% increase in overall consumption, diverging from established reduction targets. From a qualitative perspective, veterinary medicine has nearly eliminated the use of critically important antimicrobials in the AntiMicrobial Expert Group (AMEG) (category B), including polymyxins and third-generation cephalosporins, which now account for only 0.24% of total sales. In contrast, human medicine continues to struggle to contain antimicrobial resistance in key sentinel pathogens, notably Klebsiella pneumoniae and Escherichia coli. Furthermore, companion animals, representing 97.9% of non-food-producing animal biomass, emerge as a reservoir of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria due to the intensive use of broad-spectrum oral formulations. The results indicate that the veterinary regulatory model, centered on binding volume reduction and preventive strategies, has been more effective in reducing overall antimicrobial consumption compared to the voluntary, guideline-based stewardship approaches currently used in human medicine. Achieving meaningful control of antimicrobial resistance will require human medicine to adopt the same level of structural rigor already implemented in animal production systems. Full article