Search Results (6,975)

Understanding the role of trust in shaping pro-ecological behaviour is essential for advancing effective environmental communication, particularly in societies characterized by low institutional credibility. This study examines how different forms of trust—scientific, institutional, mediatic, and interpersonal—predict pro-ecological behaviour in Bulgaria, a context marked by historically low levels of social and institutional trust. Drawing on a nationally representative survey of 1008 adults, participants rated their trust in six sources of environmental information (experts, public servants, politicians, media, social networks, and friends or relatives) and reported their engagement in various ecological practices. Multiple regression analysis revealed that trust in experts was the strongest positive predictor of pro-ecological behaviour, followed by trust in friends and relatives. Trust in political institutions, media, and online social networks showed no significant associations. These findings suggest that in low-trust societies, interpersonal trust and trust in experts serve as primary drivers of ecological engagement, while institutional trust alone is insufficient to mobilize collective environmental action. The study underscores the importance of fostering both scientific credibility and community-based communication to enhance public participation in sustainability initiatives. Full article

The hybrid parallel operation of the grid-following (GFL) converter and the grid-forming (GFM) converter has become a typical scenario in distribution networks. The vastly different control philosophies and dynamics between the two give rise to complex small-signal stability issues, especially under weak grids. Traditional methods primarily rely on equivalent models or impedance-based approaches at fixed operating points, which struggle to reveal the system instability mechanisms when the capacity ratio between the two types of converters changes. This paper establishes a three-port dynamic average model for a grid-connected system with heterogeneous GFL-GFM converters. Using the participation factor analysis method, the system’s dominant modes are identified, and the key parameters influencing oscillations at different frequencies, as well as their formation processes, are revealed. Furthermore, a stability analysis method for variable capacity ratios is proposed. This method re-performs modal analysis based on the varying capacities of the GFM and GFL converters, revealing the dominant factors and influencing mechanisms of system instability during capacity transitions. Finally, a simulation model is built in PSCAD/EMTDC to verify the correctness of the proposed three-port model and the theoretical analysis results. Full article

Unpaid caregivers in Hong Kong, China (Hong Kong) are known to be under tremendous stress. The government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) has been funnelling resources to non-profit organisations to support these caregivers in recent years. Since 2020, the British government has provided British National (Overseas) passport holders with a pathway to gain citizenship in Britain, and many Hong Kongers, especially young families, have migrated to Britain. This migration includes many former caregivers of older adults who remain in Hong Kong. How do these left-behind elderly parents comprehend the loss of their main caregivers, an extreme case of empty nest? And how do faith-based, especially Evangelical Christian, organisations and churches, support these older adults and their adult children in transnational caregiving? This study employs an ethnographic approach through on-site fieldwork and semi-structured interviews with older adults whose children migrated abroad, social workers at faith-based organisations, and church pastors. These field observations and interviews are supplemented by case studies and interviews published in news outlets. Through this group study, though limited in sample size, this article argues for the importance of faith identity and religious community in supporting both older adults and their caregivers, whether situated locally or remotely, and how faith-based organisations support transnational caregiving through connecting both parties. Full article

To address the challenges of homogenization and unclear functional hierarchy in pet water fountain design, as well as to meet diverse user needs, reduce costs, and improve efficiency, this study undertakes product design based on comprehensive research and analysis of key design elements that fulfill the practical requirements of both humans and pets. Furthermore, to evaluate and optimize the proposed design scheme, an integrated AHP-improved CRITIC-TOPSIS comprehensive design evaluation model is introduced within the framework of multi-criteria decision theory to assess and refine pet water fountain design solutions. The methodology commences with the application of the AHP to construct a multi-level evaluation index system and determine subjective weights for each index. Subsequently, the improved CRITIC method is integrated to calculate the comprehensive weights of each indicator. The TOPSIS method is then employed to rank and optimize the design schemes. Strategies for further improvement are proposed based on key indicators that are assigned higher weights. The results of the simulation verification experiment and sensitivity analysis indicate that the proposed method achieves high accuracy and reliability in the evaluation of pet water fountain designs. This methodology establishes a rigorous evaluation framework that can be extended to other pet product designs. Full article

The dynamics of power converters are highly influenced by uncertainties, nonlinearities, and external disturbances. Thus, high-performance, extremely resilient, and robust control strategies are necessary for their control. For the robust operation of power converters, this article presents an adaptive and finite-time convergent active disturbance rejection control (ADRC) framework inspired by Professor Han’s seminal paper. Based on ADRC’s philosophy, this article proposes a control scheme that integrates adaptiveness and finite-time convergence in both the extended state observer and the control law. The proposed framework ensures quick disturbance estimation and its rejection, thus ensuring that the required response is tracked successfully. The controllers for different power converters, such as buck converters, boost converters, and single-phase inverters, are designed to ensure the desired dynamics, including low settling times and zero-percent overshoots. The controllers are implemented in the discrete-time domain using forward differences. Simscape simulation experiments on buck converters, boost converters, and single-phase inverters demonstrate that the responses are achieved with finite settling time with no overshoots. Thus, such control strategies are highly crucial for mission-critical power applications. Full article

Background/Objectives: Psilocybin has re-emerged as a promising intervention for neuropsychiatric disorders including major depressive disorder, treatment-resistant depression, anxiety associated with life-threatening illness, obsessive compulsive disorder, and substance use disorders. However, conventional randomized controlled trials (RCTs)—the current gold standard in evidence-based medicine—may not adequately capture the therapeutic complexity of psilocybin, which depends not only on pharmacological action but also on contextual, psychological, and interpersonal factors. This critical narrative review aimed to evaluate the adequacy of existing clinical research frameworks for assessing psilocybin’s therapeutic potential and to explore alternative methodologies that may better reflect real-world clinical conditions. Methods: Using the Web of Science Core Collection database, we identified and analysed the ten most cited clinical studies on psilocybin published between 2015 and 2025 inclusive. Additional literature was included through reference cross-checking, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and interdisciplinary sources covering neurobiology, history, and real-world evidence (RWE). The review synthesizes clinical outcomes, methodological constraints, and epistemic considerations relevant to psychedelic-assisted therapy. Results: Evidence from highly cited trials demonstrates rapid and sustained antidepressant and anxiolytic effects of psilocybin, with notable benefits also observed in addiction treatment. However, significant methodological limitations were identified, including selection bias, challenges in placebo design and blinding, small sample sizes, and the underrepresentation of diverse populations. Psilocybin outcomes were strongly influenced by subjective experience and contextual factors such as set and setting. Emerging RWE studies revealed heterogeneous patterns of response and provided insights unattainable through RCTs alone. Conclusions: Psilocybin shows considerable therapeutic promise, but current RCT methodologies capture only part of its clinical effects. Comprehensive evaluation will require larger and more diverse clinical trials, long-term follow-up, standardized psychotherapeutic protocols, and the integration of RWE to reflect real-world practice. Psychedelic-assisted therapy should be conceptualized as a complex intervention that combines pharmacological and psychotherapeutic components. Full article

In his seminars, Deleuze claims that Spinoza is ‘an absolute geometrist’. This article contextualizes, explains and substantiates this aspect of Deleuze’s interpretation of Spinoza. I position Deleuze’s reading within both the long-running scholarly debate on Spinoza’s relationship to mathematics and within the evolution of Deleuze’s own relation to Spinoza. Deleuze’s idea that Spinoza is a geometrist is shown to consist of three elements. First, according to Spinoza, geometry is more fundamental than arithmetic. Second, Spinoza frees geometry from the realm of fiction and abstract and develops, as Deleuze says, a ‘mathematics of the real’. Third, Spinoza finds in geometry a language of univocity, by which he can avoid the equivocity and hierarchy of the Aristotelian worldview. Full article

This paper develops Tone as Ontology, a structural account of being grounded in the invariants of generative systems. We articulate the ontological significance of tone, distinguishing this foundational work from a companion paper that explores its methodological application and formalization. We redefine “tone” as the structural profile of constraints that allows entities to maintain coherence under transformation. The tonal ontology formalizes three invariants—Resonance, Responsibility, and Closure—as conditions of persistence that bridge operational and metaphysical ontology. Concretely, we specify Resonance (relational continuity via recursive feedback), Responsibility (traceable accountability that conserves integrity across transformations), and Closure (recursive self-consistency enabling bounded openness). In contrast to informational or substance-based views, tonal being is understood as the conservation of structure through change. The resulting framework unites physical coherence, informational integrity, and ontological continuity into a generative ontology of integrity, suggesting that to exist is to maintain one’s tone. This paper addresses fundamental questions in meta-ontology, demonstrates how tone generates classical ontological frameworks, and advances a conceptual reorientation for understanding existence as resonant persistence. It outlines testable implications across philosophy of mind, AI ethics, and social/environmental theory. Overall, tonal ontology is presented as a post-informational, structurally grounded account of being. Full article

Armed conflicts are at the epicentre of an information war, amplified by false claims about the motivations of the conflicts and refugees. The spread of narratives, especially in digital media, challenges the European Union to implement effective strategies to combat misinformation and to adopt measures to scrutinise and hold the main communication channels accountable, in order to prevent hostile narratives from influencing public opinion and political decision-makers. In this context, this article seeks to analyse the implications of media discourses and misinformation in the development of social representations about the Russian–Ukrainian war and refugees, as well as the use of social networks by individuals to share this type of content. The research is based on an exploratory study as part of the R&D Project MeInWar—Study on the media and social representations of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, funded by Europeia University. The study employed a survey method and an online questionnaire applied to a non-probabilistic convenience sample of 222 individuals aged between 18 and 38. The results revealed that media narratives influence attitudes towards refugees and migration policies, and it is clear that factors such as age and gender have an impact on content-sharing practices and the motivations behind them. Full article

This article focuses on the origin of “Wenqi Theory”—a core domain of ancient Chinese literary theory—specifically Cao Pi’s proposition that “literature is governed by qi”. It situates this concept within the 21st-century context of cultural globalization to engage in dialogue with Western aesthetics, aiming to revitalize the theory through mutual learning between Chinese and Western civilizations and integrate it into the system of modern transformation for classical literary theory. From the perspective of contemporary theoretical reconstruction, the paper analyzes the modern discourse paradigm of “Wenqi Theory”, traces its philosophical roots, and points out that the “clearness” or “murkiness” of “Wenqi” directly influences the aesthetic value of writing and the evaluation of objects. The study reveals that “Wenqi Theory” possesses rich connotations and unifies multiple dialectical relationships such as author and text, macrocosm and microcosm, personal temperament and acquired cultivation, content and form, fully embodying the distinctive integration of Chinese cultural tradition. Furthermore, the paper studies the lineage of life aesthetics from “Qi-Theory” in philosophy and science to “Wenqi Theory” in literary criticism, and its importance in constructing modern discourse paradigms. Meanwhile, by utilizing the categories of “the sublime” and “the beautiful” in Western aesthetics, it reactivates the contemporary aesthetic implications of “Wenqi Theory” within the context of globalization and cross-cultural exchange. The article endeavours to place this seemingly esoteric concept of classical Chinese literary theory within a cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary philosophical horizon for systematic and theoretical interpretation, revealing its universal aesthetic value that transcends specific cultural backgrounds, thereby providing a possible paradigm for the modernization of traditional Chinese literary theory and its participation in international academic dialogue. Full article

Modern, post-Scaliger expectations for constructing an absolute chronology out of ancient biblical narratives introduce a fallacy of assumed time that distorts the reading of these narratives. While absolute chronology undergirds historical-critical interpretation from Spinoza and Reimarus to twentieth-century scholarship, the more recent “temporal turn” in philosophy, historiography, and literary theory aligns with a renewed attention to narrative time and ancient temporal consciousness. Focusing on 2 Maccabees and the Gospel of John as historiographical narratives reveals how both texts configure events through relative temporal devices—such as temporal markers and temporal process verbs—rather than through absolute calendrical dating, even when coordinates appear in 2 Maccabees’ embedded letters. Building on this comparison allows for a dimensional model of time that respects these configurational strategies and avoids obscuring how these texts construct theological and historical meaning within their own narrative worlds. Full article

High-quality agricultural development (HQAD) in China is essential to achieving Chinese-style modernization, which represents a uniquely Chinese path to modernization characterized by coordinated development across economic, political, cultural, social, and ecological dimensions. Against the backdrop of accelerating digitalization in global value chains (GVCs), exploring how it influences China’s HQAD carries significant theoretical value and policy implications. This study, for the first time, integrates GVC digitalization and HQAD into a unified analytical framework. Utilizing panel data from 30 Chinese provinces from 2009 to 2020, it empirically examines the relationship between them and the underlying mechanisms. GVC digitalization is measured with the interaction term between provincial digital GVC participation and global digitalization level, while HQAD is comprehensively assessed using a multi-dimensional evaluation indicator system constructed based on the new development philosophy, employing the entropy weight TOPSIS method. The findings reveal that GVC digitalization significantly promotes HQAD in China. For every one-standard-deviation increase in the degree of digitalization, the level of HQAD increases by an average of approximately 0.02 percentage points. Mechanism analysis further identifies industrial structure upgrading and rural integration of primary, secondary, and tertiary industries as two crucial transmission pathways. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that this promoting effect is more pronounced in major grain-marketing regions, provinces with better digital infrastructure, and those with higher levels of human capital. This research provides new empirical evidence for understanding agricultural transformation in the digital era and offers policy insights for leveraging GVC digitalization to advance HQAD. Full article

This paper focuses on T. C. Chao’s (Zhao Zichen, 赵紫宸, 1888–1979) poeticizing theology practice, in which he applied poetry to expound and express theological thought. By employing research methodology that integrates historical and logical analysis, this study examines the historical context and the author’s personal theological mission, so as to investigate the formation of his poeticizing theology. This paper analyzes T. C. Chao’s poetry from multiple aspects, including the form, the expression, the core of his thoughts and the poetry’s peculiarities. We found that T. C. Chao’s poeticizing theology shows cultural fusion and a mystic inclination at the textual level, reflecting peculiarities in contextualization, ethics and indigenization at the theological level. These characteristics of T. C. Chao’s poeticizing theolog provide great significance in offering spiritual comfort, advancing indigenous theology, and responding to contemporary intellectual trends. Furthermore, it remains instructive for current practices of cross-cultural fusion that take Chinese culture as the main subject, and emphasize the fusion of inner spirituality and creative transformation. Full article

In 1934, D. T. Suzuki visited China and met the renowned Pure Land Buddhist Master Yinguang, who was then retreating at Baoguo Temple in Suzhou. They conversed in-depth on the practices of the Pure Land and Chan/Zen traditions in China and Japan. This conversation deepened their respective understandings on the diverse developments of Pure Land and Chan in both countries. In this article, we introduces the historical context of Suzuki’s visit to China and his encounter with Yinguang, and then describes Suzuki’s impressions of Chinese Chan Buddhism during his visit. what is more, we compares and contrasts Yinguang’s and Suzuki’s views on Chan and Pure Land in China as well as their views on Pure Land and True Pure Land in Japan. Finally, we critically examines Suzuki’s view on the “Other-Power” (他力, 彼の力) and speculates on the significance of this dialogue in the history of the exchange of Buddhism between China and Japan. Full article

Social media has become a key space for health communication, fostering the emergence of the e-patient influencer, a figure capable of generating a support community around themselves. In the case of multiple sclerosis (MS), a complex disease with an uncertain prognosis, these profiles can influence the perception and management of the disease. Therefore, credibility and authenticity are identified as key constructs for truly understanding the effectiveness of their communication. Through content analysis, the main active profiles on Instagram and TikTok are examined to recognise narrative patterns, communication strategies and different levels of credibility and authenticity, as well as potential differences between those platforms involved. The results show, on both networks, a predominance of empathetic content focused on the daily management of this disease. Furthermore, a positive, albeit moderate, relationship between credibility and authenticity is found, confirming the importance of these two concepts in social media. Instagram shows slightly higher degrees of credibility, while authenticity is more predominant on TikTok, fostered by the spontaneity and transparency of its creators. Full article