Search Results (858)

Sustainable historic-town conservation requires preserving historical patterns and cultural memory while understanding how spatial environments shape everyday perception. Using Yun’an Ancient Salt Town in Chongqing, China, this study develops a three-layer framework of spatial topology, scene interfaces, and historical semantic elements. Space syntax, deep-learning image recognition, rule-based coding, image-based questionnaires, Spearman correlation, random forest regression, and SHAP were used to examine perceived historicity, safety, attractiveness, and comfort. The analysis combined axial models for 1985, 2004, and 2024 with 140 images—55 human view and 85 aerial view—each evaluated by 264 valid respondents. Yun’an’s street network shifted from a salt-production and transport structure toward modern traffic corridors; integration declined in the historic core, and intelligibility fell from 0.13 in 2004 to 0.07 in 2024. At the human-view scale, modern interference was negatively associated with historicity and attractiveness, whereas stairs, traditional components, and micro-historical objects were positively associated with historicity. At the aerial-view scale, historical visibility, character integrity, and blue-green-space indicators were associated with historicity, attractiveness, and comfort. Cross-validated random forest performance was strongest for aerial-view historicity and limited for other outcomes. The findings support a human-centered, culturally sustainable renewal pathway linking historical-street continuity, townscape integration, blue-green quality, and heritage-node activation. Full article

As China’s dominant urban housing form, gated residential communities deploy layered spatial access controls governing who may enter and move through neighbourhood space. While neighbourhood social sustainability has attracted substantial scholarly attention, how micro-spatial governance arrangements affect the inclusiveness of residential built environments toward essential service workers remains underexplored. Drawing on Lefebvre’s theory of the production of space, this study uses food delivery riders—who navigate gated community access controls dozens of times daily—as an analytical lens to evaluate how neighbourhood spatial governance shapes social inclusiveness. Vignette-based survey data from 445 riders across 157 cities in 27 Chinese provinces were analysed using structural equation modeling. Results show that cumulative anxiety from procedural delays, detours, and elevator waiting is the dominant pathway through which spatial governance undermines riders’ perceived spatial inclusion—operationalised through occupational dignity indicators—with elevator-based spatial stratification identified as a concrete, low-cost intervention target within the spatial-channeling mechanism. Technology-mediated access partially mitigates face-to-face exclusion but leaves underlying spatial inequalities intact. Demographic invariance across all tested variables confirms that diminished inclusion arises from the governance regime itself. The findings position neighbourhood spatial governance as a measurable dimension of urban social sustainability—one concretely testable through the experience of essential service workers—and identify low-cost built-environment interventions for inclusive residential design. While the study focuses on riders as a single user group, the analytical framework is transferable to evaluating how residential built environments accommodate diverse non-resident populations. Full article

Computational narrative—the automatic sifting, composition and interpretation of stories—needs raw material: event logs rich enough to yield tellable stories. Social simulations are an attractive source but only if their logs are embodied, eventful and interconnected so that concurrent threads share the coordinates a telling must weave. We present a dependency-light multi-agent social simulation built to that specification as a synthetic log generator for downstream narrative tasks. Its distinguishing feature is that perception follows from position: agents encounter one another by co-location, and every event records the set of agents present to witness it. That explicit, queryable who-perceived-what relation—left disembodied or implicit by prior simulations—is what focalised composition needs, and recovering it is the gap this work addresses. Agents negotiate shared activities and exclusive relationships directly, driven by affect and per-agent temperament. Run in a calibrated, seeded free mode, social structure—couples, jealousy, affairs, break-ups—emerges unscripted from local interaction: across 150 random casts the structural invariants hold in every run, while dramatic outcomes vary widely from seed to seed, and a disjoint held-out population of 150 fresh seeds reproduces every calibrated band. A narrative-interest diagnostic instruments the logs, separating routine from active runs and reading off which dramatic configurations occur. Full article

The design of urban pedestrian–cycling routes is of great importance for the sustainable development of cities. Properly designed routes encourage the use of sustainable modes of transport. They also bring numerous environmental and social benefits. The study examines how greenery and spatial characteristics influence citizens’ aesthetic perception of pedestrian and cycling corridors. The Scenic Beauty Estimation (SBE) method was used to assess visual landscape quality based on users’ subjective evaluations. A total of 301 participants evaluated 20 photographs taken in Lublin, Poland, depicting different types of urban routes, including sidewalks, cycling paths, and park pathways, using a five-point rating scale. Statistical analyses (ANOVA, post hoc tests, and composite and differential variable analyses) were conducted to identify patterns in preferences. The results indicate that greenery is the dominant factor shaping landscape preferences across all age and gender groups. Age plays a stronger role than gender in differentiating evaluations: younger participants prefer more natural and greener environments, whereas older participants favor more ordered and less green spaces. Gender effects are limited and primarily relate to preferences for natural landscapes. An additional finding concerns the role of benches, which were most preferred by younger and middle-aged women, suggesting a broader social and functional interpretation of this element. Overall, the results highlight the importance of greenery in shaping the perceived attractiveness of urban routes. They also indicate the key spatial features that encourage people to use these routes, which affects the use of sustainable modes of transport as well as residents’ health. They also demonstrate the usefulness of the SBE method in planning, design and managing user-friendly and sustainable urban routes. Full article

Adjusting cropping structure is a key way smallholder agriculture adapts to changing labor availability, production costs, mechanization, and agricultural services. Most studies explain such change through macro-level factors—prices, policies, and resource endowments—and pay less attention to how farmers perceive these changes and adjust their crop choices over time. Taking Xiajin County, Shandong Province, China, as a case, this study combines sown-area data for major crops from 1980 to 2023, provincial cost–benefit records for wheat, maize, and cotton, and retrospective semi-structured interviews with 57 respondents to examine how changing crop choice criteria shaped county-level cropping structure transformation. The county shifted from cotton dominance to wheat–maize dominance, with rising structural concentration. Farmers’ criteria also changed: early decisions reflected drought tolerance, subsistence grain, and cash income, whereas later ones emphasized labor saving, income stability, mechanization compatibility, and outsourcing feasibility. Under labor out-migration, rural aging, rising labor opportunity costs, and service expansion, wheat and maize became more attractive than cotton because their key stages were easier to mechanize and outsource. County-level transformation thus emerged from the accumulation of farmers’ repeated crop choice adjustments under changing constraints, rather than from external change alone. Grain-oriented concentration should be balanced with crop diversity and sustainable farming systems. Full article

Callosobruchus chinensis (L.) (Coleoptera: Bruchidae) is a destructive storage pest, causing serious losses to stored legume seeds. The olfactory system of these insects plays an important part in assisting them locate host plants. Olfactory responses of female C. chinensis adults to volatiles of disparate bean seeds (Vigna radiata, Pisum sativum, Vigna unguiculata, Glycine max, and Phaseolus vulgaris) were evaluated using electroantennography (EAG) and various olfactometer bioassays. In behavioral bioassays, C. chinensis was mostly attracted to the volatiles of V. radiata. We detected 37 components in the volatile profile of V. radiata. Among these, nonanal (11.83%), 1-hexanol (7.35%), hexanal (5.71%), tetradecane (3.83%), and 2-ethyl-1-hexanol (3.70%) were present in relatively high contents. EAG recordings indicated that the antennae of C. chinensis can detect these five compounds, and that adult C. chinensis exhibited significant positive behavioral responses to them across various concentrations. No significant differences in the olfactory preference of C. chinensis for nonanal were observed among different concentrations, while attraction was greatest for 1 µg/µL 1-hexanol, 25 and 10 µg/µL hexanal, 25 µg/µL tetradecane, and 1 µg/µL and 10 µg/µL 2-ethyl-1-hexanol. Based on comparisons of these compounds at their most attractive concentrations, C. chinensis exhibited the greatest olfactory preference for 1-hexanol. Adult female C. chinensis can keenly perceive volatile compounds emitted by the preferred legume V. radiata via their peripheral olfactory systems, and they showed positive chemotactic responses to these volatile semiochemicals. These results provide new insight into mechanisms underlying host preference in this stored-product pest. Among the compounds tested, 1-hexanol represents a potential attractant for C. chinensis monitoring and control. Full article

This paper investigates the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) as flying base stations (BSs) to enhance fifth generation (5G) vehicular communications on highways, where traffic congestion and fluctuating user demand can challenge the capacity of terrestrial infrastructure. While UAV-assisted vehicular networking has attracted significant attention, many existing studies rely on simplified mobility, propagation, or communication models that limit the assessment of practical deployment performance. To address these limitations, we develop a realistic UAV-assisted vehicular networking framework that integrates microscopic traffic simulation through Simulation of Urban MObility (SUMO), network control via Traffic Control Interface (TraCI), and standard-compliant 5G communication modeling using MATLAB R2025b 5G Toolbox. The framework incorporates a 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) rural macro cell (RMa) highway scenario, detailed clustered delay line (CDL)-based channel characterization, and cross-layer communication procedures. Within this framework, we propose a low-complexity trajectory optimization strategy that adapts the UAV position in real time to maximize the average received signal to noise ratio (SNR) while respecting practical motion constraints. Simulation results demonstrate that adaptive UAV positioning enhances communication performance, achieving mean SNR gains of up to 2.04 dB, throughput improvement of up to 11.2%, and block error rate (BLER) reductions of up to 27.3%. These findings highlight the potential of UAV-assisted communications to enhance user-perceived quality of service (QoS) for bandwidth-demanding vehicular applications under realistic 5G highway operating conditions. Full article

Engaging adolescents in regular physical activity remains a major public health challenge; consequently, increasing attention is being directed toward technologies that make exercise more attractive, task-oriented, and engaging. Active video games and non-immersive virtual reality systems are particularly promising because they combine physical exertion with feedback, gamification, and movement-based interaction. This study examined whether a biathlon exergame performed on an unstable ICAROS Cloud platform using the ICAROS App can elicit favorable physiological and psychological responses in adolescents, and whether these responses depend on body position. Eighty secondary school students, including 41 girls and 39 boys, completed two 10 min Biathlon trials: one in a standing position and one in a quadruped kneeling position, with the trial order counterbalanced. The percentages of maximum heart rate (%HR_max), perceived exertion, enjoyment of physical activity, and flow state were assessed. The standing condition elicited higher exercise intensity than quadrupled kneeling (71.42 ± 9.61 vs. 62.09 ± 9.04%HR_max; p < 0.001), and was also associated with higher perceived exertion, enjoyment, and flow. Similar response patterns were observed in girls and boys. These findings highlight the potential of unstable-platform exergaming as a practical and engaging approach to technology-supported physical activity promotion in developmental ages. Full article

Women’s concerns about personal safety significantly affect their use of public spaces, particularly semi-enclosed micro-public environments such as public toilets. Existing studies have not fully clarified how different spatial elements influence women’s perceived safety or how perceived-safety-oriented design priorities should be determined. This study develops and preliminarily examines an evaluation framework for women’s perceived safety in public toilets, which are treated as a highly private type of micro-public space. Grounded in Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design theory, the framework integrates visual scenario simulation, the Kano model, and the Best–Worst Method. A total of 257 female participants evaluated simulated spatial scenarios, and 10 experts assessed the relative importance of key indicators. The Kano results show that Facility condition is a must-be requirement; Lighting, Degree of enclosure, Material transparency, Signage clarity, Entrance buffer zone, Surveillance cameras, Hygiene conditions, and Graffiti and advertisements are one-dimensional requirements; and Women’s care area, Auditory conditions, Olfactory conditions, Loitering detection, and Emergency support are attractive requirements. The weighting results identify Degree of enclosure, Facility condition, and Hygiene conditions as the most important indicators. Based on these findings, the study proposes an integrated framework of “evaluation dimensions–demand attributes–relative weights–design priorities” and a design path of “basic guarantee–priority improvement–support enhancement.” The findings provide design guidance for public toilets and a methodological reference for other micro-public spaces, although the specific Kano classifications and weights require contextual recalibration. Full article

External spaces of buildings represent a type of potential space that can supplement the urban public space system under the background of urban renewal. However, as spaces with ambiguous publicness, their design and layout often need to convey stronger welcoming attitudes to attract citizens’ use. This study aims to explore the expression elements of publicness in external spaces of museum buildings. A mixed method approach, including field observation and measurement, questionnaire surveys (with a total sample size of 277), and statistical analysis, was adopted to explore and reveal the design logic of publicness expression in the layout and form of external spaces of museum buildings. Taking nine museum building external spaces located in Beijing’s core area as empirical cases, this study analyzes the influence of spatial layout on publicness expression from six dimensions: leisure atmosphere and activity diversity, spatial quality and perceived safety, landscape creation and spatial comfort, pedestrian friendliness, spatial identity, and boundary treatment and management measures. The study aims to understand the subtle threshold characteristics between the design of external spaces of museum buildings and the expression of publicness, and to explore the benefits of external spaces of buildings in supplementing the urban public space system. This research is expected to respond to public demands for high quality public spaces and improve the refinement of urban space management and optimization. Full article

Chengde, China, is famous for its Qing Dynasty imperial gardens, which are a World Heritage Site. In recent years, it has received increasing attention from heritage research scholars. From a tourism perspective, tourists’ visits are important for supporting economic benefits, heritage conservation, and sustainable development. This study integrated the four dimensions of the 4E heritage communication framework—experience, exchange, everyplace, and evangelism—with heritage interpretation quality to develop a model to uncover cultural heritage visiting behavior. Based on the survey data of 887 Chinese tourists who have visited Chengde’s cultural heritage sites, structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed. The results showed that experience, exchange, everyplace, and evangelism, together with heritage interpretation quality, were all positively associated with cultural heritage visiting behavior. Perceived destination image and perceived conservation both significantly predicted cultural heritage visiting behavior and served as significant mediators in most of the proposed indirect relationships; however, the indirect path of evangelism through perceived destination image was not supported. Source credibility strengthened the relationships between the five antecedents and cultural heritage visiting behavior. Therefore, this article encourages the development of high-quality, comprehensive marketing strategies to attract more people to learn about World Cultural Heritage, while simultaneously improving guided tour services and their quality. It also emphasizes building a more positive cultural tourism image and conducting precise public relations to ensure that World Cultural Heritage receives support and attention from governments, educational institutions, and travel agencies. Full article

Human-like virtual influencers (VIs) have become an increasingly important component of social media marketing. Their human-like appearance can simultaneously attract users and, meanwhile, evoke discomfort associated with the uncanny valley. This study utilized quantitative research via partial least squares structural equation modeling. A total of 845 Instagram users contributed to the dataset. The findings demonstrated that informative content did not significantly influence Instagram users’ engagement intentions, whereas entertaining content exerted a favorable influence. Simultaneously perceived innovativeness was the strongest antecedent, while perceived personalization was also significant. In addition, both cognitive and affective empathy significantly strengthen parasocial relationships, which subsequently increase users’ engagement intentions toward human-like VIs. This study contributes in three ways. First, it identifies the relative importance of content, social relationships, and personal gratifications in explaining engagement intentions with human-like VIs. Second, it extends research by distinguishing the complementary roles of cognitive and affective empathy in fostering parasocial relationships with human-like VIs. Third, the findings suggest that cognitive and affective empathy may help explain why users form meaningful social relationships with highly human-like VIs despite concerns associated with perceived artificiality, thereby offering a more nuanced understanding of engagement intentions in the context of virtual influencer marketing. Full article

Prolonged financial crises force households to adopt strategies intended to preserve wealth and support financial resilience. Among these strategies, physical gold has become an increasingly attractive safe-haven asset, yet limited evidence exists on the behavioral factors associated with consumers’ intentions to purchase gold in economies experiencing prolonged financial crises. Addressing this gap, this study investigates the cognitive, behavioral, social, and economic predictors of gold purchase intention in Lebanon, one of the countries most severely affected by financial collapse, currency depreciation, and institutional distrust. Drawing on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and Consumer Behavior Theory, the study develops an extended conceptual framework by incorporating financial literacy as an additional antecedent and perceived affordability as both a direct predictor and a moderating variable. Data were collected through a cross-sectional survey of 268 Lebanese adults and analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) in SmartPLS 4. The findings reveal that financial literacy, attitude toward gold, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and perceived affordability are all significant positive predictors of purchase intention. Furthermore, the positive associations of attitude and subjective norms with purchase intention are stronger at higher levels of perceived affordability, highlighting its dual role as both an economic determinant and a potential contextual boundary condition. The study extends the TPB by distinguishing between psychosocial predictors of gold purchase intention and the financial capability and resource constraints represented by financial literacy and perceived affordability. By examining perceived affordability as a potential boundary condition for the associations of attitudes and subjective norms with purchase intention, the study clarifies when favorable evaluations and social influences are more strongly associated with intentions to purchase gold as a resilience-oriented financial asset. Full article

The transition to electromobility and the intention to purchase electric vehicles have attracted growing interest amid concerns about the environmental impacts of the transport sector. Although consumer behavior toward electric vehicles is widely examined through psychosocial factors, the literature highlights a gap in integrating individual determinants with broader macro-normative dimensions, particularly in emerging markets. Therefore, the objective of this study is to empirically analyze the influence of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 11, 12, and 13) on consumers’ intention to purchase electric vehicles in Northeast Brazil. The findings demonstrate that all TPB constructs, including attitude, Subjective Norm (SN), and Perceived Behavioral Control (PBC), positively influence adoption intention, with a strong emphasis on Pro-environmental Attitude. Furthermore, the SDGs function as complementary normative motivators, indicating that recognizing electric vehicles as solutions for sustainable cities, responsible consumption, and climate action also increases purchase intention. As its main theoretical contribution, the study demonstrates that the constructs of the Theory of Planned Behavior and sustainability-related perceptions associated with SDG 11, SDG 12, and SDG 13 are all significant predictors of consumers’ intention to purchase electric vehicles. In practical terms, the study provides actionable insights for public policy and management strategies aimed at accelerating the transition to low-carbon mobility. Full article

Background: Healthcare professionals are frequently exposed to serious work-related events that may adversely affect their psychological well-being, work ability, and professional retention. Peer support systems have been proposed as a low-threshold organizational approach to providing psychosocial support following such job-inherent events. This study examined the incidence of serious work-related events among healthcare workers, employees’ perceptions of an implemented peer support system, and the potential relevance of psychosocial support for employer attractiveness. Methods: A multicenter cross-sectional survey was conducted following the implementation of peer support structures in three German hospitals in 2022. A total of 295 healthcare workers completed an anonymous questionnaire assessing experiences with serious work-related events, perceptions of the peer support system, preferred support services, and the potential influence of psychosocial support on employer choice. Descriptive statistics and bivariate correlations were performed. Results: Overall, 46.4% of participants reported experiencing at least one serious work-related event within the previous two years. The peer support system was perceived as a valuable resource for supporting staff and managing psychosocial stress. Participants reported benefits not only from direct use of peer support but also from knowing that support was available when needed. Negative perceptions of the peer support system were uncommon. Approximately 27% of respondents indicated that the availability of psychosocial support could influence their choice of employer. Conclusions: Peer support systems are perceived as an acceptable and beneficial approach to addressing psychosocial stress among healthcare professionals. Beyond their supportive function, such systems may be perceived as part of employer attractiveness and a feasible organizational strategy to support workforce well-being and workforce stability in healthcare settings. Full article