Search Results (416)

Studies commonly measure the effects of media narratives on the self immediately following exposure. We explored whether these effects on viewers’ self-esteem, self-efficacy and motivation are confined to the immediate post-exposure period and examined how they are related to the audience’s identification with the protagonist. In Study 1, participants watched movie clips that included inspiring narratives depicting protagonists who succeeded in accomplishing their goals. Implicit self-esteem was significantly higher immediately after watching than after a short break. Unexpectedly, identification was positively correlated only with delayed self-esteem. In Study 2 we changed the control condition and added explicit measures. The reduction in implicit self-esteem between the two measurement times was replicated in the no-treatment control group. Moreover, self-efficacy and motivation were higher than in the control group and were stable over time, and identification was positively related only to delayed implicit self-esteem and motivation. We conclude that the effect of inspiring narratives on the self extends beyond the immediate time of exposure, and identification with the characters contributes to this persistent effect. The findings are explained by theories of contrast and assimilation, identification and inspiring narratives. Full article

Analyzing how spinners are represented in art is a way to understand the role of women’s work in the medieval and premodern periods. What do spinners signify? How is this work depicted? Who are spinners? Using a selection of imagery from northern European medieval manuscripts and premodern prints from the 14th to the 17th centuries allows us to see how pervasive the spinner was as a symbolic device. Characters such as Eve, Mary, Sardanapalus, and Hercules are unified by their spinning. As they work with the spindle and distaff, they are makers in addition to being religious or mythological figures. Though spinning does not always (if at all) appear in their textual narratives, it is part of the established iconography for each and persisted as a way to communicate or demean the value of women’s domestic enterprises. Full article

Groundwater is the primary water source for ecosystems, and so changes in groundwater levels, if directional and constant, can cause changes in vegetation and habitat characters. In Białowieża National Park, a significant decline in the water table was observed at the beginning of the 20th century. The question therefore arose as to whether the changes that occurred at that time were permanent. A second question was whether the negative trend would continue so clearly in the following years. The study is based on measurements from 1985 to 2005 and 2022 to 2023 taken in the same monitoring wells. Complete data were collected from 21 monitoring wells. An analysis of groundwater levels between 1985 and 2005 showed an average decline of 0.08 m/10 years in swamp habitats, 0.11 m/10 years in moist habitats, and 0.21 m/10 years in fresh habitats. The measurements in 2022 and 2023 showed that the trend of falling water levels had slowed down in almost the entire study area, with water levels in recent years being similar to those at the beginning of the century. This was also confirmed by comparing years with similar precipitation: 2022 with 1986, and 2002, 2004, and 2023 with 1999. This was due to the higher precipitation after 2005. In the period of 2006–2023, precipitation in the hydrological years was on average 60 mm higher than in the period of 1985–2005. Despite the clear trend toward rising air temperatures, the higher precipitation compensated for the higher evapotranspiration. However, one area showed a systematic decrease in water levels. This occurred at the watershed of the two largest rivers in the Białowieża Forest. The findings indicate that watershed areas are most vulnerable to lowering the groundwater level due to climatic warming. Full article

Rationalist thought and positivism, as observed in various Eastern societies, led to significant upheavals in Turkish society concerning entrenched beliefs about the relationship between humanity and the world. These upheavals can be traced through the modernization efforts of the Tanzimat (Reorganization) period (between 1839 and 1896, the period of modernization and renewal in the Ottoman Empire). Although the initial generation of writers and poets during this period did not overtly renounce their connections to tradition, by the onset of the 20th century, a critical perspective towards traditional and religious content in both poetry and novels became evident. In its formative stages, Turkish socialist novels, which evolved under the influence of Russian socialism, were shaped by the classical Marxist interpretation of religion. Consequently, the socialist realist Turkish novel developed a more original character and distanced itself from stereotypical judgments. Kemal Tahir, who occupies a significant role in the realm of Turkish socialist novels, offers insights into the position and function of faith within society, as he transitioned from the classical Marxist paradigm towards a more original understanding. This study investigates the alterations in religious approaches during the Westernization process within Turkish literature and assesses the reflections of this transformation in the novels of Kemal Tahir (1910–1973), one of the preeminent figures of the socialist realist Turkish novel. Full article

Affective–sexual education programs (ASEPs) are effective in combating gender violence (GV). Most previous studies have focused on the short-term effect these programs have on explicit sexist attitudes. The objective of this study was to analyze the short- and medium-term effect of an ASEP regarding sexist attitudes. An educational intervention study was carried out on 561 high school students in Tenerife (Spain). The 15 h intervention used a participatory methodology with debates, working groups, and game dynamics. Explicit attitudes were measured with the scale of sexist, violent, and stereotyped attitudes (SVSAs) and the gender role attitudes scale (GRAS), and implicit attitudes were measured with the assessment of the behavior of the characters of a brief tailored story, in which an interaction between two young people with an ambiguous component of gender violence is described. Four measurements were made: pre-intervention, post-intervention, 6 months, and 12 months. After the intervention, in the experimental group, scale scores decreased (SVSA from 28.7 ± 7.7 to 21.8 ± 2.1, p < 0.0001; GRAS from 30.6 ± 7.8 to 22.3 ± 2.8, p < 0.0001), and the level of approval of the behavior of the female character of the story improved (from 5.4 ± 2.6 to 7.6 ± 2.1, p < 0.0001). The effect of the intervention on sexist attitudes was maintained until the end of the 12-month follow-up period. Full article

In this article, I investigate the ontological status of the minor working-class character Mrs. McNab, the cleaner in “Time Passes", the middle section of Virginia Woolf’s tripartite novel To the Lighthouse. Woolf regarded this section as the connecting block between the two outer blocks, “The Window” and “The Lighthouse”, in which she aimed to depict an empty house, devoid of human presence, and to highlight the passage of time. This section has often been analysed by literary-stylistic criticism as if written from a non-anthropocentric worldview. However, the presence of a lower-class cleaner and the absence of the upper middle-class characters who predominate in the other two blocks has also raised much debate in the literary arena. Literary critics agree that this character is given a narrative voice, but how this voice functions, and whether this character is granted narrative agency in terms of the class issues and social relations in the period of transition between Victorian England and the early twentieth-century, is an issue which still remains open. Drawing upon cognitive stylistics, I suggest reading this character both as a category-based and person-based character, and as a narrative device. First, I carry out the analysis of the repetitive she-clusters and their semantic prosodies; then, through samples of the section “Time Passes", I analyse how viewpoint blending between narrator/author and character concur to grant narrative agency to Mrs. McNab and to what extent such agency may be limited by our perception of her through the social schemata of a servant, or whether such a perception may undergo a process of schema refreshment. Last, I suggest that this character may also be viewed as a narrative agent by means of which the reader can activate mental processes of TIME and SPACE blending between the three different blocks of the novel. This blending process allows for the completion of the narrative design of the novel: the journey to the lighthouse. Full article

Background: Optimal coping with chronic pain (CP) has a positive impact on minimizing the barriers to patients’ quality of life. Mindfulness-based approaches have been shown to improve emotional regulation and coping strategies in CP management, promoting a greater acceptance of pain and reducing psychological distress. Given that personality traits may influence the adjustment to chronic pain, this study aimed to investigate whether specific personality dimensions, based on Cloninger’s model of temperament–character dimensions, affect the enrolment and the response to pain treatment in an innovative hybrid arts-based CBT-CP group intervention for patients with non-malignant CP. Methods: A pre-and-post assessment design was implemented in a non-randomized control trial. A total number of 100 outpatients at a University Pain Management Unit were allocated through self-selection in either an arts-based CBT-CP group intervention (N = 50) or a treatment-as-usual (TAU) control group (N = 50). All participants completed the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI), the Orbach and Mikulincer Mental Pain Scale (OMMP), the Tolerance for Mental Pain Scale (TMPS), and the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI-140). The assessment took place at baseline and at the end of the intervention, after a 10-week period. The statistical analyses included a t-test for independent samples, Chi-square, and linear regression analyses. Results: At baseline, the arts-based CBT-CP intervention group had a higher score in the novelty seeking character dimension (M = 64.04; SD = 9.56), whereas the TAU group was found to have higher scores in self-directedness (M = 74.34; SD = 11.22) and self-transcendence (M = 51.42; SD = 6.61). The arts-based CBT-CP group reported a lower loss of control (M = 22.94; SD = 6.70) and higher belief in the ability to cope with pain (M = 21.10; SD = 3.76) after the intervention, compared to the control group. Self-transcendence was found to be a significant predictor of average pain as well as of patients’ belief in their ability to cope with pain. Conclusions: The current study provides practice-based evidence suggesting that an arts-based CBT-CP group intervention is a promising treatment for non-malignant CP. Personality dimensions affect patients’ enrolment and response to pain treatment. Furthermore, integrating mindfulness-based strategies within such interventions may further enhance treatment outcomes by fostering acceptance, improving coping mechanisms, and reducing the emotional burden associated with chronic pain. Full article

Creole writer Sidonie de la Houssaye (1820–1894) registered the threat of anglophone dominance after the Civil War on behalf of a host of characters drawn from the geographies and ideologies in and around her home in Louisiana. Her little-known literary tales depict the period as a cultural and linguistic border zone. In addition to the texture of Louisiana French and Creole heritage, the tales depict the vexed social dynamics of prejudice and fragility. In the context of this special issue on good and evil, the poorly known children’s tales offer insight into these pernicious tensions that persisted under the surface of moral victory after the Civil War. La Houssaye’s lessons for children take up the moral panic of a Louisiana reckoning with its legacies of racial violence and cultural erasure. This article argues that morality in these tales takes shape in interpersonal practices that can be learned to heal social ills. What I have called La Houssaye’s “ethics of social life” relies on education rather than condemnation to redefine human bonds. If a broader lesson emerges from the stories taken together, it suggests that structural change is slow to heal cultural wounds. We must ourselves be the agents of a healthier community. Full article

Aluminum alloy AA6082 (Al-Si-Mg) is a lightweight alloy that requires thick barrier coatings to be protected from localized corrosion. Plasma Electrolytic Oxidation (PEO) coating is a common anodic surface treatment used for growing protective oxides; the main process variables of PEO are the composition of the electrolytic solution and the electrical input. This work focuses on the optimization of the electrical input by comparing different coatings produced by potentiostatic PEO at the effective potential of 350 V, applied by different combinations of voltage ramps with various slopes and maintenance times at the fixed potential. All processes lasted five minutes. The innovative character of this research work is the evaluation of the combined effect of the anodizing voltage and its different trends with time on the coating structure and morphology. The corrosion resistance of coated AA6082 is assessed in contact with chlorides, reproducing seawater. The resulting anodic coatings were compared in terms of structure, composition (thickness, XRD, SEM-EDS) and corrosion resistance (potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy), finding that longer maintenance at high anodizing potentials promotes localized high-energy plasma discharges, producing larger pores and thicker, but less protective coatings. Results show that the coating thickness increases with the maintenance time (maximum thickness value~17.6 μm). Shorter maintenance periods and longer voltage ramps lead to a lower surface porosity and enhanced corrosion performances of the oxide. The thinnest and least porous coating exhibits the best corrosion behavior (CR~1.1 μm/year). Full article

This article presents the first results of the zooarchaeological analysis of Chalcolithic levels of the Barrio del Castillo site (Torrejón de Ardoz), located within the Aldovea complex, which also contains evidence from other prehistoric periods. The Barrio del Castillo sector reveals an occupation pattern characterized by pit and silo fields, a common phenomenon in the Tagus Middle Valley’s Prehistory. This study focuses on the Chalcolithic phase, which exhibits two types of faunal accumulations: one linked to domestic activities (referred to as domestic assemblages), and another with a more symbolic character, involving the burial of articulated or semi-articulated animals, mainly dogs, designated as ritual deposits. The first type of accumulation is dominated by domestic species like caprines (sheep and goats) and cattle. Other domestic species, like pigs and dogs, alongside wild species, like horses and deer, appear in smaller quantities. On the other hand, ritual deposits are largely dominated by dogs in the Chalcolithic phase. This paper emphasizes the marked contrast between the two types of accumulations, domestic and ritual, and highlights the implications that these might have toward a better understanding of the world of the first metallurgical communities of the inner Iberian Peninsula. Full article

The transportation sector mainly relied on fossil fuel and is one of the major causes of climate change and environmental pollution. Advances in smart sensing technology are paving the way for the development of clean and intelligent vehicles that lead to a more sustainable transportation system. In response, the automotive industry is actively engaging in new sensor technologies and innovative control and diagnostic algorithms that improve energy sustainability and reduce vehicle emissions. In particular, recent regulations for diesel vehicles require the integration of smart soot sensors to deal with particulate filter on-board diagnostic (OBD) challenges. Meeting the recent, more stringent OBD requirements will be difficult using traditional diagnostic approaches. This study investigates an advanced diagnostic strategy to assess particulate filter health based on resistive soot sensors and available engine variables. The sensor data are projected to generate a 2D signature that reflects the changes in filtration efficiency. A relevant feature (character) is then extracted from the generated signature that can be transformed into an analytical expression used as an indicator of DPF malfunction. The diagnostic strategy uses an adaptive approach that dynamically adjusts the signature’s characters according to the engine’s operating conditions. A correction factor is calculated using an optimization algorithm based on the integral of engine speed measurements and IMEP set points during each sensor loading period. Different cost functions have been tested and evaluated to improve the diagnostic performance. The proposed adaptive approach is model-free and eliminates the need for subsystem models, iterative algorithms, and extensive calibration procedures. Furthermore, the time-consuming and inaccurate estimation of soot emissions upstream of the DPF is avoided. It was evaluated on a validated numerical platform under NEDC driving conditions with simultaneous dispersions on engine-out soot concentration and soot sensor measurements. The promising results highlight the robustness and superior performance of this approach compared to a diagnostic strategy solely reliant on sensor data. Full article

Yinhua Pinggan Granules (YPG) is a patented traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) compound prescription, with wide clinical application against cold, cough, and relevant diseases. However, the chemical profiles of YPG in vivo are still unknown, hindering further pharmacological and quality control (QC) researches. This study presents an ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with high-resolution orbitrap mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS)-based method. Using the Compound Discoverer platform and a self-built ‘in-house’ compound database, the metabolic profiles and pharmacokinetics characters of YPG were investigated. Consequently, a total of 230 compounds (including 39 prototype components and 191 metabolites) were tentatively identified, in which the parent compounds were mainly flavonoids, alkaloids, and terpenoids, and the main metabolic pathways of metabolites include hydration, dehydration, and oxidation. The serum concentration of seven major representative compounds, including quinic acid, chlorogenic acid, amygdalin, 3′-methoxypuerarin, puerarin, glycyrrhizic acid, and polydatin, were also measured, to elucidate their pharmacokinetics behaviors in vivo. The pharmacokinetic study showed that the seven representative compounds were quantified in rat plasma within 5 min post-administration, with T_max of less than 2 h, followed by a gradual decline in concentration over a 10 h period. The method demonstrated excellent linearity (R² > 0.998), precision, and recovery (RSD < 15%). As the first systematic characterization of YPG’ s in vivo components and metabolites using UHPLC-MS, this study may contribute to comprehensively elucidate the metabolic profiles of the major components in YPG, and provide a critical foundation for further investigation on the QC and bioactivity research of YPG. Full article

My essay aims at considering the mythological figure of Melusina and her literary development, starting from the Middle Ages up to the Romantic period. The main purpose is to determine how this fictional entity, originally regarded as the symbol of nature and its fecundity, has changed over the time in relation to the historical and cultural complex and how this has reverberated in terms of interpretation of the identity of the literary character. I will consider the medieval versions of Jean D’Arras (1392), with some consequent references to Coudrette (1401–1405) and von Ringoltingen (1456), and the German romantic fairytale rewriting of Ludwig Tieck (1800). If the thematic nucleus remains the same, the configuration of the female character changes by reflecting the new Romantic poetics in terms of interest towards femininity, subjectivity and the study of the morphology of the Earth. In particular, Melusina is no longer seen as a mere and passive object, but as a subject who for the first time, hiding in an emblematic cave, reveals to the reader her own interiority and her own truth, totally assimilating herself to the external environment. The conclusion will show how the cultural subtext modifies the interpretation of this atavistic character. Full article

Climate during the Late Cretaceous is characterized by a long-term cooling trend interrupted by several periods of increased warming. This study focuses on the terrestrial response to two rapid climate events just prior to the K-Pg boundary marked by the Chicxulub impact: the Mid-Maastrichtian Event (MME) and the Late Maastrichtian Warming Event (LMWE). These hyperthermals caused widespread biotic and greenhouse gas-related disturbances, and clarification about their timing and environmental character reveals the independent nature of all three events. Using element concentrations in bulk paleosols, as well as element concentrations in pedogenic calcite from paleosols in the Tornillo Basin of West Texas, we reconstruct mean annual precipitation (MAP) and the character of soil weathering across the K-Pg boundary. Modelled MAP indicates increased precipitation during the first half of the MME and rapid high amplitude changes in precipitation during the second half of the MME. The Tornillo Basin became increasingly dry during the LMWE followed by wet conditions that continued across the K-Pg boundary. This study documents the co-occurrence of sedimentation patterns, sea level change, and climate change caused by separate tectonic events prior to the K-Pg boundary. Full article

The purpose of this study is to assess the possibility of relating two phenomena: first, meteorological drought, which is exclusively dependent on climate; second, water scarcity and its uses, which are predominantly anthropogenic in nature. Sometimes these phenomena may overlap, with the former amplifying the latter, but direct correlation is not always highlightable due to the anthropogenic character of water shortage and the variability of water supply sources. In the literature, many papers evaluate these two phenomena separately: in particular, the SPEI (Standardized Precipitation-Evapotranspiration Index) is widely used for detecting meteorological drought, while the link between water shortage and its uses is assessed through an index of water resource exploitation, WEI⁺ (Water Exploitation Index Plus), which is based on the calculation of an anthropogenic factor, withdrawals net of restitutions. Specifically, this study examines the SPEI and WEI⁺, respectively, calculated for the July–August–September quarter (SPEI3 sept) and during the low-flow period (WEI⁺_EF low flow), according to the environmental flow constraint. These periods are considered seasonally overlapping in the study area of the Umbria region. The results analyzed by spatial method show the more critical areas, where SPEI3 sept and WEI⁺_EF overlap their critical values, respectively, <−1.0 and >100%. The proposed methodological approach provides stakeholders in the water sector with essential information to adopt a proactive approach to drought phenomena. Full article