Search Results (690)

Falkland Islands English (FIE) began its development in the first half of the 19th century. In part, as a consequence of its youth, FIE is an understudied variety. It shares some morphosyntactic features with other anglophone countries in the Southern Hemisphere, but it also shares lexical features with regional varieties of Spanish, including Rioplatense Spanish. Che is one of many South American words that have entered FIE through Spanish, with its spelling ranging from “chay” and “chey” to “ché”. The word has received some marginal attention in terms of its meaning. It is said to be used in a similar way to the British dear or love and the Australian mate, and it has been compared to chum or pal, and is taken as an equivalent of the River Plate, hey!, hi!, or I say!. In this work, we explore the hypothesis that che entered FIE through historical contact with Rioplatense Spanish, drawing on both linguistic and sociohistorical evidence, and presenting survey, corpus, and ethnographic data that illustrate its current vitality, usage, and social meanings among FIE speakers. In situ observations, fieldwork, and an online survey were used to look into the vitality of che. Concomitantly, by crawling social media and the local press, enough data was gathered to build a small corpus to further study its vitality. A thorough literature review was conducted to hypothesise about the borrowing process involving its entry into FIE. The findings confirm that the word is primarily a vocative, it is commonly used, and it is indicative of a sense of belonging to the Falklands community. Although there is no consensus on the origin of che in the River Plate region, it seems to be the case that it entered FIE during the intense Spanish–English contact that took place during the second half of the 19th century. Full article

This article reconsiders the double-slit experiment by establishing a new type of relationship between it and the concept of entanglement. While the role of entanglement in the double-slit experiment has been considered, this particular relationship appears to have been missed in preceding discussions of the experiment, even by Bohr, who extensively used it to support his argument concerning quantum physics. The main reason for this relationship is the different roles of the diaphragm with slits in two setups, S1 and S2, defining the double-slit experiment as a quantum experiment. In S1, in each individual run of the experiment one can in principle (even if not actually) know throughout which slit the quantum object considered has passed; in S2 this knowledge is in principle impossible, which impossibility is coextensive with the appearance of the interference pattern, once a sufficient number of individual runs of the experiment have taken place. The article offers the following argument based on two new concepts, an “experimentally quantum object” and an “ontologically quantum object.” In S1 the diaphragm can be treated as part of an observational arrangement and thus considered as a classical object, while the object passing through one or the other slit is considered as an “ontologically quantum object,” defined as an object necessary to establish a quantum phenomenon. By contrast, in S2, the diaphragm can, via the concept of Heisenberg-von-Neumann cut, be treated as an “experimentally quantum object,” defined as an object treatable by quantum theory, even while possibly being an ontologically classical object. This interaction is not an observation but a quantum entanglement between these two quantum objects, one ontologically and one experimentally quantum. This argument is grounded in a particular interpretation of quantum phenomena and quantum theory, which belongs to the class of interpretations designated here as “reality without realism” (RWR) interpretations. The article also argues that wave-particle complementarity, with which the concept of complementarity is often associated, plays little, if any, role in quantum physics, or in Bohr’s thinking, and may be misleading in considering the double-slit experiment, often explained by using this complementarity. Full article

This study explores key factors influencing Aging-in-Place Attachment (AiPA) among older adults in Macau’s high-density community spaces, emphasizing interactions between the built environment, behavior, and psychology. A multidimensional framework evaluates environmental, behavioral, human-factor, and psychological contributions. A mixed-methods, multisource approach was employed. This study measured spatial characteristics of nine public spaces, conducted systematic behavioral observations, and collected questionnaire data on place attachment and aging intentions. Eye-tracking and galvanic skin response (GSR) captured visual attention and emotional arousal. Hierarchical regression analysis tested the explanatory power of each variable group, supplemented by semi-structured interviews for qualitative depth. The results showed that the physical environment had a limited direct impact but served as a critical foundation. Behavioral variables increased explanatory power (~15%), emphasizing community engagement. Human-factor data added ~4%, indicating that sensory and habitual interactions strengthen bonds. Psychological factors contributed most (~59%), confirming AiPA as a multidimensional construct shaped primarily by emotional and social connections, supported by physical and behavioral contexts. In Macau’s dense urban context, older adults’ desire to age in place is mainly driven by emotional connection and social participation, with spatial design serving as an enabler. Effective age-friendly strategies must extend beyond infrastructure upgrades to cultivate belonging and interaction. This study advances environmental gerontology and architecture theory by explaining the mechanisms of attachment in later life. Future work should explore how physical spaces foster psychological well-being and examine emerging factors such as digital and intergenerational engagement. Full article

Background/Objectives: A critical part of the maize life cycle takes place during the summer, and due to climate change, its growth and development are increasingly exposed to the irregular and unpredictable effects of drought stress. Developing and using new cultivars with increased drought tolerance for farmers is the easiest and cheapest solution. One of the concepts to screen for drought tolerance is to expose germplasm to various growth scenarios (environments), expecting that random drought will occur in some of them. Methods: In the present study, thirty-two maize hybrids belonging to four FAO maturity groups were tested for grain yield at six locations over two consecutive years. In parallel, data of the basic meteorological elements such as air temperature, relative humidity and precipitation were collected and used to compute two indices, scPDSI (Self-calibrating Palmer Drought Severity Index) and VPD (Vapor Pressure Deficit), that were assessed as indicators of drought (water deficit) severity during the vegetation period. Practical implementation of these indices was carried out indirectly by first analyzing yield data using a factor analytic model to detect latent environmental variables affecting yield and then correlating those latent variables with drought indices. Results: The first latent variable, which explained 47.97% of the total variability, was correlated with VPD (r = −0.58); the second latent variable explained 9.57% of the total variability and was correlated with scPDSI (r = −0.74). Furthermore, latent regression coefficients (i.e., genotypic sensitivities to latent environmental variables) were correlated with genotypic drought tolerance. Conclusions: This could be considered an indication that there were two different acting mechanisms in which drought affected yield. Full article

Tusavirus 1 of species Protoparvovirus incertum 1 (family Parvoviridae) was first identified in humans and later in small ruminants (caprine and ovine). This study reports the full-length coding sequences (~4400–4600 nt) of three novel tusavirus-related protoparvoviruses from ovine (“misavirus”, PV540792), for the first time bovine (“sisavirus”, PV540793) and subsequently from caprine (“gisavirus” PV540850/51) fecal samples, using next-generation sequencing (NGS) and PCR techniques. Their NS1, VP1 and VP2 proteins shared 61–63% amino acid identities with each other and with tusaviruses, suggesting these three viruses belong to three novel species in the genus Protoparvovirus. Phylogenetic analyses placed them with tusaviruses on a separate main branch, implying a shared origin among these most likely ruminant protoparvoviruses. A small-scale epidemiological investigation on 318 ruminant enteric samples using novel generic NS1 primers found misavirus in 14/51 (27.5%) ovine and sisavirus in 19/203 (9.4%) bovine samples from multiple Hungarian farms. Tusavirus was present in 5/51 (9.8%) ovine and 15/62 (24.2%) caprine samples, all from one farm. The highest prevalences for all three viruses were found in animals aged 2–12 months, though sporadic cases were also found in other age groups. Partial NS and VP sequence-based phylogenetic trees showed virus-specific lineages for misa-, sisa-, gisa- and tusaviruses, with various strains forming sub-lineages. These findings suggest the presence of multiple genotypes and/or members of additional species, which was supported by a VP sequence-based hierarchical cluster analysis. The study’s viruses were mostly phylogenetically separated by host; however, two bovine sisavirus strains with diverse phylogenetic localizations in the NS (belonging to bovine sisaviruses) and VP1 trees (distantly related to ovine misaviruses) could indicate previous (interspecies?) recombination events. Full article

Preschool as a place of learning consists of various communities and belongings created in the intersection between children, teachers, and policy. The very essence of a good life in preschool is characterised by the sort of communities and the opportunities for belonging available to children. Being able to participate in various communities and to experience belonging is central to the wellbeing of every child in preschool. The aim of this study is to gain knowledge about processes of belonging in preschool peer communities. The following research questions guide the study: What categorisations, positionings, and identifications appear in the interactions between the children? What ethical and political value preferences are at stake? The study applies Nira Yuval-Davis’s theory about the politics of belonging and her analytical framework is used to interpret and understand data, including analytical concepts such as categorisation and social positioning, identifications, and ethical and political value systems. A case study has been used to explore processes of belonging in rich detail. Data consist of video observations of interactions between children in a Swedish Early Childhood Education (ECE) institution. Findings reveal how the children’s categorisations lead to various positions, identifications, and opportunities for belonging. We show how a grounded position is established, and how categorisations are used to justify exclusion. The study also illustrates various approaches used by the children to gain a sense of belonging in peer communities, here conceptualised as confrontation, adaptation, and defence. A conclusion is that children’s categorisations are deeply embedded in the social structures of preschool and that the work with belonging needs to be on every teacher’s agenda. Full article

Background: Dilated Cardiomyopathy (DCM) is one of the leading causes of non-ischemic cardiomyopathy in the United States (US). The aim of our study is to analyze the general trends in DCM admissions between 2016 and 2021, and analyze social and healthcare disparities in terms of treatments and outcomes. Methods: National Inpatient Sample (NIS) data for the years 2016 to 2021 were used for the analysis. General population trends were analyzed. Normality of data distribution was tested using the Kolmogorov–Smirnov test and homogeneity was assessed using Levine’s test. One-way ANOVA was used after confirmation of normality of distribution to analyze social and healthcare disparities. Subgroup analysis was conducted, with the paired t-test for continuous variables and Fischer’s exact t-test for categorical variables to analyze statistical differences. Multivariate regression analysis was conducted to analyze the association of factors that were significant in the one-way ANOVA and paired t/chi square tests. A two-tailed p-value < 0.05 was used to determine statistical significance. Results: A total of 5262 admissions for DCM were observed between 2016 and 2021. A general declining trend was observed in the total number of DCM admissions, with a 33.51% decrease in total admissions in 2021 compared to 2016. All-cause in-hospital mortality remained stable across the years (between 3.5% and 4.5%). A total of 15.3% of admissions had CRT/ICD devices in place. A total of 425 patients (8.07%) for DCM underwent HT, and 214 admissions for DCM (4.06%) underwent LVAD placements between 2016 and 2021 In terms of interventions for DCM, namely Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy (CRT), Left Ventricular Assist Devices (LVADs) and Heart Transplantations (HTs), significant variance was observed in the mean age of the admissions with admissions over the mean age of 55 had lower number of interventions. Significant variance in terms of sex was observed for DCM admissions receiving HT, with lower rates observed for females. In terms of quarterly income, patients belonging to the lowest fourth quartile had higher rates of LVAD and HT compared to general DCM admissions. In the multivariate regression analysis, age at admission had significant association with lower chances of receiving LVADs and HT among DCM admissions, and significant association with higher chances of all-cause mortality during the hospital stay. Conclusions: A general declining trend in the total number of DCM admissions was observed between 2016 and 2021. Significant gender disparities were seen with lower rates of females with DCM receiving LVADs and HT. DCM admissions with mean age of 55 and above were found to have significantly lower rates of receiving LVADs and HT, and higher chances of all-cause mortality during the admission. Full article

Chabazite, a tectosilicate mineral, belongs to the zeolite group and has been widely used for the adsorptive removal of a number of cationic contaminants from the aqueous phase. However, a negatively charged chabazite surface can be altered by chemical modification in order to change its adsorption abilities towards anions. This study reports the potential for the removal of hexavalent chromium ions from aqueous solutions by modified chabazite. In this regard, natural chabazite was modified by the immobilization of HDTMA-Br to achieve double-layer coverage on its surface, defined as the double external cation exchange capacity. Next, a batch adsorption system was applied to study the adsorption of inorganic Cr(VI) anions from aqueous solutions. The process equilibrium was described by 11 theoretical isotherm equations, while 6 adsorption kinetics were represented by four models. Among those tested, the most appropriate model for the description of the studied process kinetics was the pseudo-second order irreversible model. The obtained results suggest that Cr(VI) adsorption takes place according to a complex mechanism comprising both Langmuir-type sorption with the maximum adsorption capacity of modified chabazite, approx. 9.3–9.9 mg g⁻¹, and the trapping of Cr(VI) inside the capillaries of the amorphous sorbent, making it a viable option for water treatment applications. Full article

Community-led rural tourism plays a crucial role in promoting economic sustainability and cultural preservation by prioritizing local needs and values. Active resident participation fosters a sense of ownership and empowerment, essential for the long-term success of tourism initiatives. A study of 386 residents from Bregenzerwald, Austria—selected for its established community-led tourism model and strong local engagement—characterized by a balanced gender distribution and high education levels, investigated the factors influencing local engagement in tourism, including perceived benefits, empowerment, trust, place attachment, and resource accessibility. Complementary interviews with 31 stakeholders from Fruška Gora, Serbia—chosen as an emerging rural tourism destination with potential for sustainable development—further emphasized the significance of community agency and empowerment. Through factor analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM), the research validated its conceptual framework, demonstrating the transferability of the Bregenzerwald model to other rural contexts. Two key constructs emerged: tourism empowerment and sustainable belonging, jointly explaining 84.655% of the variance. Tourism empowerment underscores residents’ recognition of tourism as a vehicle for economic growth, job creation, and cultural safeguarding, while sustainable belonging reflects a strong commitment to eco-friendly practices and social cohesion. Stakeholders from Fruška Gora echoed these findings, highlighting tourism’s role in economic development, cultural identity reinforcement, and environmental stewardship. The results illustrate that rural tourism, when community-led, serves as a comprehensive development tool, fostering economic resilience, environmental sustainability, and social solidarity. The Bregenzerwald model offers a valuable framework for enhancing community participation and sustainable tourism development in other rural regions seeking holistic growth. Full article

Sets play a foundational role in organizing, understanding, and interacting with the world in our daily lives. They also play a critical role in the functioning and behavior of social robots and artificial intelligence systems, which are designed to interact with humans and their environments in meaningful and socially intelligent ways. A multitude of non-classical set theories emerged during the last half-century aspiring to supplement Cantor’s set theory, allowing sets to be true to the reality of life by supporting, for example, human imprecision and uncertainty. The aim of this paper is to continue this effort of introducing oSets, which are sets depending on the perception of their observers. Our main objective is to align set theory with human cognition and perceptual diversity. In this context, an accessible set is a class of objects for which perception is passive, i.e., it is independent of perception; otherwise, it is called an oSet, which cannot be known exactly with respect to its observers, but it can only be approximated by a family of sets representing the diversity of its perception. Thus, the new introduced membership function is a three-place predicate denoted ${\in }_i$, where the expression “$x{\in }_{i}X$” indicates that the “observer” i perceives the element x as belonging to the set X. The accessibility notion is related to perception and can be best summarized as follows: “to be accessible is to be perceived”, presenting a weaker stance than Berkeley’s idealism, which asserts that “to be is to be perceived”. Full article

As a crucial component of cultural heritage, industrial heritage possesses considerable cultural, historical, and economic significance. The key challenge for industrial heritage sites is to foster eco-conscious actions among visitors while boosting tourism spending. Based on the S-O-R theory, we constructed a relationship model between authenticity, place attachment and environmental responsibility behavior through structural equation modeling and tested it with the survey data of tourists in Maoming open-pit mine ecological park. Findings reveal that both the object-related authenticity and the existential authenticity of the experience enhance the sense of reliance and belonging to the place, with the former also directly promoting visitors’ eco-conscious actions. In contrast, experiential authenticity does not exert a direct effect on eco-conscious actions. The sense of place reliance and identity are found to be significantly and positively linked to eco-conscious behavior. Furthermore, place reliance and identity act as intermediaries in the relationship between object authenticity, experiential authenticity, and eco-conscious behavior, serving as a sequential mediating factor. The study suggests strategies such as augmenting financial support to preserve the authenticity of the site, prioritizing the enhancement of infrastructure and the creation of cultural offerings to elicit emotional responses, and reinforcing emotional bonds to encourage eco-conscious actions. Full article

An event is an occurrence that takes place at a specific time and location that can be either weather-related (snowfall), social (crime), natural (earthquake), political (political unrest), or medical (pandemic) in nature. These events do not belong to the “normal” or “usual” spectrum and result in a change in a given situation; thus, their prediction would be very beneficial, both in terms of timely response to them and for their prevention, for example, the prevention of traffic accidents. However, this is currently challenging for researchers, who are called upon to manage and analyze a huge volume of data in order to design applications for predicting events using artificial intelligence and high computing power. Although significant progress has been made in this area, the heterogeneity in the input data that a forecasting application needs to process—in terms of their nature (spatial, temporal, and semantic)—and the corresponding complex dependencies between them constitute the greatest challenge for researchers. For this reason, the initial forecasting applications process data for specific situations, in terms of number and characteristics, while, at the same time, having the possibility to respond to different situations, e.g., an application that predicts a pandemic can also predict a central phenomenon, simply by using different data types. In this work, we present the forecasting applications that have been designed to date. We also present a model for predicting traffic accidents using categorical logic, creating a Knowledge Base using the Resolution algorithm as a proof of concept. We study and analyze all possible scenarios that arise under different conditions. Finally, we implement the traffic accident prediction model using the Prolog language with the corresponding Queries in JPL. Full article

Global warming and the increasing frequency and intensity of heat waves are resulting in more frequent unfavourable weather conditions for outdoor activities, especially during the summer. The building environment can alter weather conditions, resulting in higher temperatures (urban heat island). Human towers are cultural activities that typically take place outdoors and were declared a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2010. The objectives of this study are (i) to analyse the weather conditions (i.e., temperature and relative humidity) during the human tower exhibitions, (ii) to determine discomfort during the exhibitions based on the heat index (HI) resulting from the combination of temperature and humidity, and (iii) to compare records from the square with those recorded in the nearest automatic meteorological station (AMS) belonging to the Catalan Meteorological Service network. To determine the weather conditions in the squares during the human tower exhibitions, a pair of sensors recorded temperature and relative humidity data in six exhibitions performed in the summer of 2024. The temperature exceeded 30 °C in five of the six human tower exhibitions analysed. In the cases of the Santa Anna exhibition (El Vendrell) and the Sant Fèlix exhibition (Vilafranca del Penedès), one of the sensors recorded temperatures above 30 °C throughout the entire duration of the exhibition. There was a predominance of HI values falling within the caution threshold in the two sensors of three exhibitions and within the extreme caution threshold in the two sensors of the other three exhibitions. The temperature is higher in urban squares than in the surrounding rural areas. The key factor is the urban heat island phenomenon, which poses health risks to both human tower builders and attendees. Adaptation measures are therefore necessary to guarantee the safety of the participants. Full article

Nowadays, natural fiber-based materials are widely used in the building sector, where the use of green and sustainable products is of growing interest. One of these fibrous materials is the esparto, a plant belonging to the Gramineae family, with a height up to 1 m. It grows in arid places with scarce rainfall, being common in some areas of the Iberian Peninsula. Due to its morphology, it can be used to replace conventional materials used in soundproofing and building applications. In this work, the acoustic properties of esparto fibers are studied using impedance tube measurements and via a phenomenological acoustic model where the input parameters are some non-acoustic properties such as porosity, density, tortuosity, and flow resistivity. The experimental results obtained showed the good acoustic performance of esparto fibers, with a high sound absorption coefficient along the usual frequency bandwidth. Furthermore, the theoretical results obtained using the phenomenological model exhibited a strong correlation with the sound absorption spectra obtained through experimental measurements. Full article

While ethnography has held an essential place in the study of Indigenous rock imagery (i.e., petroglyphs and pictographs) in the United States for the past century and a half, rarely are Tribes and other descendant communities involved throughout the entire research program—from conception to publication. This contrasts with recent developments within more traditional “dirt” archaeology, where over the past 30 years, Tribes have assumed greater roles in decision-making, fieldwork, artifact curation, data management, interpretation of results, and repatriation of ancestral belongings. In concert with these changes, Indigenous archaeology has emerged as a domain of theory and practice wherein archaeological research and cultural heritage management center the voices and interests of Indigenous communities. Collaboration among researchers and Indigenous communities has proven to be an effective means of practicing Indigenous archaeology and advancing its goals, but research into rock imagery all too often still limits Indigenous engagement and knowledge to the interpretation of the imagery. This article highlights a case study in Tribal collaboration from the North American Southwest in the interest of advancing an Indigenous archaeology of rock imagery. Full article