Search Results (1,623)

This study investigates the prescribed and perceived roles of Catholic bishops in 18th-century Hungary through a comparative analysis of Bishop Ferenc Zichy and Bishop János Szily. Drawing on papal encyclical—Ubi primum of Pope Benedict XIV—, as well as episcopal documents—Epistola pastoralis of Ferenc Zichy, Istructio… of János Szily—, the paper explores the episcopal ideals of governance, teaching, and moral example, and how these ideals were implemented in the dioceses of Győr and Szombathely. The research highlights how both bishops internalized and operationalized the model of the bonus pastor—the Good Shepherd—through personal residence, canonical visitations, seminary reform, and moral regulation of the clergy. Bishop Zichy and Bishop Szily emphasized the importance of episcopal oversight, spiritual exercises, and educational standards to reinforce clerical discipline and doctrinal conformity, responding to the challenges of the Catholic Enlightenment and the broader ecclesiastical reform movement. By analysing pastoral letters, visitation protocols, and clerical instructions, the study reveals a coherent vision of episcopal leadership that balanced doctrinal authority with practical pastoral care. This work contributes to the broader historiography on early modern Catholicism by showing how local episcopal strategies aligned with and adapted papal mandates in a dynamic and context-sensitive manner. Full article

This study examines the transformation of communities within Christian churches in late-modern and postmodern social contexts. As a theoretical foundation, it presents changes in the concept of community, with a particular focus on the role of religious communities. Emphasis is placed on community as a social and spiritual resource and on the possibilities for reorganising churches. Three national case studies—an urban Reformed congregation, a small-town Catholic parish, and an ecumenical pilgrimage community—will be used to illustrate the functioning, challenges, and responses of church communities. This research uses both qualitative and quantitative methods, and the results highlight the power of community retention, the importance of personal relationships, and spiritual depth. This study also highlights the theory that the key to church renewal lies in rethinking and consciously building community forms. Digital space, personal networks, and spiritual needs are calling for new models for the church. Full article

The “three rights separation” system plays a vital role in enhancing the economic efficiency of rural residential land use, thereby contributing to land revitalization and rural-urban integration. Using survey data from 456 farmers in Yujiang District and Deqing County, this study employs DEA, Tobit, and threshold regression models to analyze the system’s effects. The results show that the system improves economic efficiency by approximately 8.9%, primarily by incentivizing investment and promoting land transfers. A nonlinear threshold effect exists: investment incentives become significant only when idle land exceeds 35 m², consistent with farmers’ economic decision-making. Land transfers enhance efficiency via marginal return equalization, however, economies of scale are not evident, being constrained by legal and coordination factors. The findings highlight the importance of deepening reform implementation, enhancing farmers’ understanding of property rights, adopting differentiated incentives tailored to land size and farmer capacity, and regulating the land transfer market to ensure transparency and fairness. Furthermore, promoting collective or service-based management models can help overcome natural scale limitations, thereby unlocking the system’s full institutional dividends. Full article

Urbanization has emerged as one of the most significant global challenges and opportunities of the 21st century, driven by a complex interplay of dynamic processes. In Ethiopia, cities have undergone rapid expansion in recent decades, largely due to state-led economic reforms and infrastructure development. This study aims to investigate the spatiotemporal dynamics, driving forces, and future projections of urban expansion along the Ethio–Djibouti trade corridor, with a focus on Dire Dawa City in eastern Ethiopia. Landsat imagery from 1993, 2003, 2013, and 2023 was utilized to detect land use and land cover (LULC) changes and analyze urban growth patterns. Additionally, maps illustrating the city’s demographic, economic, and topographic characteristics were developed to identify the key driving factors behind land conversion and urban expansion. The spatial matrix and landscape expansion index were employed to examine the spatial patterns of urban growth. Furthermore, the study applied the Multi-Layer Perceptron–Markov Chain (MLP–MC) model to simulate future LULC changes and urban expansion. The results indicate that the built-up area in Dire Dawa has increased significantly over the past three decades, growing from 6.21 km² in 1993 to 21.54 km² in 2023. This urban growth is predominantly characterized by edge expansion, reflecting a pattern of unidirectional, unsustainable development that has consumed large areas of agricultural land. The analysis shows that socioeconomic development and population growth have had a greater influence on LULC conversion and urban expansion than physical factors. Based on these identified drivers, the study projected land conversion and simulated urban expansion for the years 2043 and 2064. The findings underscore the urgent need for context-sensitive urban growth strategies that harmonize local realities with national development policies and the Sustainable Development Goals. Full article

Grain storage is one of the important means of national macro-control, significantly impacting people’s livelihood and social stability. In emergencies, grain storage enhances disaster relief efficiency and victim resettlement. Currently, developing countries primarily use government storage and government–enterprise joint storage. In response to the speculative behavior caused by the profit-seeking tendencies of agent storage enterprises in the process of joint government–enterprise grain storage, this study considers the current status of digital governance reform by the government and takes the government–enterprise emergency joint grain storage mechanism as its research object. We construct an evolutionary game model between the government and agent storage enterprises, analyze the evolutionary stability of the strategy choices of the two parties, explore the impact of various factors on the strategy choices of both parties, and discuss different stable strategy combinations. Through simulation analysis of the cost–benefit systems of both sides, initial strategy probabilities, key factor sensitivity, and the impact of digital governance levels, we propose a number of management recommendations that can effectively reduce speculative behavior and provide guidance for the government to improve its emergency grain storage system. Full article

To systematically reveal the influence mechanisms and spatial effects of industrial intellectual property (IP) reform strategies and manufacturing craftsmanship spirit on regional energy intensity, this study aims to provide theoretical support and practical pathways for emerging market economies pursuing dual goals of energy efficiency governance and manufacturing transformation. Based on a “technology–culture synergistic innovation ecology” theoretical framework, the study deepens the understanding of energy intensity governance and introduces two spatial weight matrices—the economic distance matrix and the nested economic–geographic matrix—to uncover the spatial heterogeneity of policy and cultural effects. Using panel data from 30 Chinese provinces from 2010 to 2022 (excluding Tibet, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan), we construct an index of manufacturing craftsmanship spirit (CSM) and its four dimensions—excellence in detail, persistent dedication, breakthrough orientation, and innovation inheritance—via the entropy method. Empirical analysis is conducted through Spatial Difference-in-Differences (SDID) and Double Machine Learning (DML) models. The results show that: (1) Industrial IP reform strategies significantly reduce local energy intensity through improved property rights definition and technology transaction mechanisms, but may increase energy intensity in economically proximate regions due to intensified technological competition. (2) All four dimensions of craftsmanship spirit indirectly mitigate regional energy intensity via distinct pathways, with particularly strong mediating effects from persistent dedication and innovation inheritance. In contrast, breakthrough orientation shows no significant impact, possibly due to limitations from the current stage of the technology lifecycle. (3) Spatial spillover effects are heterogeneous: under the nested economic–geographic matrix, IP reform strategies reduce neighboring regions’ energy intensity through synergistic effects, while under the economic distance matrix, competitive spillovers lead to an increase in adjacent energy intensity. Based on these findings, we propose the following: deepening IP reform strategies to build a technology–culture synergistic ecosystem; enhancing regional policy coordination to avoid technology lock-in; systematically cultivating the core of craftsmanship spirit; and establishing a dynamic incentive mechanism for breakthrough orientation. These measures can jointly drive systemic improvements in regional energy efficiency. Full article

Development of sustainable agriculture on Mars is a critical step towards its colonisation. However, Martian regolith is coarse-grained, and its mineral profile differs significantly from that of terrestrial arable soil, resulting in poor seed germination success and stunted plant development. This study investigates whether germination success and plant growth can be improved by exposing seeds and plants to water enriched with either i) biochemically active reactive oxygen and nitrogen species generated by atmospheric pressure plasma (PAW) or (ii) nano-/micro-bubbles and minerals such as potassium and calcium extracted from Aquapulse^® feldspar (APW), a type of rock that is readily available on Mars, at different stages of the crop lifecycle. As a crop model, microgreen crops of B. oleracea and M. sativa are chosen for their short growth cycle, low resource requirements, and high nutritional value. For B. oleracea crops, soaking of seeds in PAW followed by irrigation with APW led to an increase in germination by ~566.7%, in biomass by 412.4%, and in chlorophyll content by 17.7% compared to crops grown using normal water for seed soaking and irrigation. For M. sativa crops, the use of APW for soaking and irrigation yielded an increase of 41.7% in seed germination and 45.2% in crop biomass, whereas the use of PAW for both soaking and irrigation resulted in the greatest improvement in seed germination, 41.7%, when compared to control. These results suggest that, with further optimisation, a regiment of treatment with PAW and APW in place of normal water can be used to address stage-specific challenges of the crop lifecycle in Martian regolith. As amending Martian regolith with a minimum of 1% organic matter is required to promote healthy plant development, further studies should investigate the use of plasma-mediated reforming of biowaste for in situ production of e.g., biochar. Full article

Manufacturing enterprises, as significant contributors to high carbon emissions, play a crucial role in effectively reducing carbon emission intensity, which is essential for China to successfully achieve its “dual carbon” goals. This study examines the period from 2010 to 2022, focusing on manufacturing enterprises listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen A-shares to investigate the effects of green financial reform on carbon and pollutant emissions. Our findings reveal that the results from the parallel trend test and the regression analysis of the Difference-in-Differences (DID) model indicate that the implementation of green financial reform has a negative impact on the carbon and pollutant emissions of manufacturing enterprises, which is supported by a series of robustness tests. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the emission reduction effect of green financial reform on pollutants is significant only in manufacturing enterprises with low industry competitiveness, while the inhibitory effect on carbon emissions is significant only in those with high industry competitiveness. Furthermore, the emission reduction effects are significant in highly polluting industries, non-state-owned enterprises, and small-scale firms. Green technological innovation and financing constraints serve as the channels connecting green financial reform with emission reduction and carbon mitigation. The tax burden negatively moderates this process, while environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance positively moderates it. Full article

The registration system reform (RSR) represents a landmark innovation in China’s IPO system, aiming to promote a more transparent, competitive, and sustainable market. Exploiting the staggered implementation of RSR as a quasi-natural experiment, we employ a difference-in-differences (DID) model using a sample of Chinese A-share IPO firms from 2016 to 2022 to investigate its impact on corporate sustainability, as proxied by environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance. Our findings indicate that RSR significantly enhances corporate ESG performance, especially the governance (G) performance. Mechanism analysis suggests that market competition, investor rationality, and sponsor reputation are potential channels through which the reform facilitates corporate sustainability. Furthermore, the above relationship is more pronounced in regions with a higher degree of marketization, among non-state-owned enterprises, and those with weaker profitability. Moreover, the reform not only exhibits long-term effects but also demonstrates positive spillover effects on peer firms originally listed under the approval-based system. Overall, our study extends the understanding of how capital market institutional reforms promote corporate sustainability in the era of the digital economy and provides valuable insights for regulators to standardize and enhance RSR, thereby establishing a resilient and sustainable financial ecosystem. Full article

This study investigates the perceptions of economics students from Romania’s Central Region regarding the global phenomena of globalization, localization, and slowbalization (GLS), analyzed through the lens of environmental, economic, and educational sustainability. The research highlights a high level of awareness and understanding of globalization and localization, while the concept of slowbalization remains relatively unfamiliar and often perceived with uncertainty or neutrality. Most respondents view globalization as the most sustainable model for long-term economic development, emphasizing its contributions to international trade, market expansion, investment flows, and access to global education and research. At the same time, localization is recognized for its role in preserving cultural identity, strengthening local economies, and addressing pressing environmental issues through low-carbon solutions. Regarding educational sustainability, students support a hybrid model that balances global exposure with the appreciation of local knowledge and traditions—a glocal approach particularly endorsed by master’s students. The study also reveals statistically significant differences between undergraduate and graduate respondents, indicating more mature perspectives among those in advanced studies. The paper could help in course design and lesson engagement and concludes by recommending curricular reforms in economic education and proposing future interdisciplinary, comparative, and qualitative research to deepen understanding of GLS dynamics, particularly in the context of emerging global trends and technological transformations. Full article

Introduction: The organization of mental health care is undergoing a transformation from an institutionalized model to a community-centered model. Due to the critical specialist workforce shortage, insufficient funding, and the large number of children in crisis, its implementation presents a challenge. The aim of this study is to analyze the current situation regarding access to system-based care under contracts with the National Health Fund in various provinces in Poland. Materials and Methods: Based on an analysis of data, resources available to patients were assessed—specifically, information was obtained from the National Health Fund website entitled “NFZ Treatment Waiting Times.” From this, the waiting times for appointments in child and adolescent mental health care facilities, the availability of mental health care facilities under contracts with the National Health Fund in Poland, legal acts, and data from the Central Statistical Office were extracted. Then, an analysis of the current accessibility to child and adolescent mental health services was conducted. The inclusion criteria for data sources were as follows: accessibility—the data had to be openly available to researchers without restrictions; credibility—the data had to be verified by individual health care facilities; usefulness—the data had to accurately reflect the actual availability of services and the needs within the child and adolescent psychiatric care system. Results: There are significant differences and deviations from the average number of facilities and waiting times when comparing the 16 provinces. Notably, some of the analyzed facilities are already operating within the framework of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Centers, where the mean waiting period for inpatient care is 105 days, the mean waiting period for day-care units is 61 days, and the mean waiting period for outpatient clinics is 257 days. The number of facilities is increasing under the reform, with new level I reference centers being opened, which ensures prevention and early support is provided by a pedagogue, psychologist, and non-medical staff, providing enhanced accessibility to care without the need for a visit to a child and adolescent psychiatrist, of whom there are only 579 for the entire child population in Poland. This metric primarily refers to first-time appointments in public institutions, with notable disparities between urban and rural areas. Conclusions: The development of the reform offers hope for quicker access to mental health support for children and adolescents. With the consistent implementation of the reform and further support from non-governmental organizations, there is a high chance of building an effective community-based model with a short waiting time for help and reducing ineffective hospitalizations, among other things, in terms of costs. Full article

Some of Spain’s greatest humanists—Juan Luis Vives, Antonio de Nebrija, Juan de Ávila, Luis de León, and Benito Arias Montano—were from a converso background. Recent scholarship suggests that two of the three most influential religious movements in sixteenth-century Spain—Juan de Ávila’s evangelical movement and Teresa of Ávila’s Barefoot Carmelites—were founded by conversos and presented converso membership, whose winds of religious innovation to tame Christian Orthodoxy and Counter-Reformation Spanish society, through the influence of Italian Humanism and reform, prioritized spiritual practice, social toleration, and religious concord. Indeed, Santa Teresa de Ávila, a major innovator within the Spanish Church, was herself from a converso family with Jewish ancestry. She became a key female theologist who transcended as an identity marker of the Spanish Baroque, conceived as quintessential of the Spanish Golden Age. Coopted in different periods, she “reappeared” in the 1930s as Patron of the Sección Femenina de la Falange y de las JONS, the women’s branch of the new radical right, turning into a role model of femininity for highly conservative religious women. Consecrated as “Santa de la Raza”, she became the undisputable womanized icon of the so-called “Spanish Crusade”, the slogan which General F. Franco implemented, with the approval of the Spanish Catholic Church, to re-cast in a pseudo-theological narrative the rebellion against the Spanish Second Republic in July 1936. This article examines different appropriations of the figure of Teresa de Ávila as a pillar of “Hispanidad”, in the last centuries within the changing sociopolitical contexts and theological debates in which this instrumentalization appeared. By highlighting the plasticity of this converso figure, the article suggests possible lines of research regarding the Jewish origins of some national icons in Spain. Full article

Ireland, historically a country of emigration, has transformed into a hub of immigration. Today, over 200 languages are spoken among its 5.25 million residents, with approximately 750,000 individuals speaking a language other than English or Irish at home. This growing linguistic diversity is increasingly reflected in Irish primary classrooms, where teachers are called upon to support students from a wide range of linguistic and cultural backgrounds). In response, Teaching English as an Additional Language (EAL) modules have expanded across initial teacher education (ITE) programs in Ireland. This study examines over two decades of teacher development initiatives, tracing a shift from an earlier bilingual model—where multilingualism was viewed primarily as second language acquisition—to a more expansive, European-informed vision of plurilingualism. Drawing on recommendations for reflexive, linguistically and culturally responsive education, this research adopts an insider/outsider discursive case study approach to explore student teachers’ preparedness to support multilingual learners in Irish primary schools. Conducted through a collaboration between an Irish teacher educator/module coordinator and an intercultural education specialist, this study employs reflexive thematic analysis) of student teachers’ self-reports from a twelve-week elective module on linguistic and cultural diversity within a Primary Bachelor of Education program. Data were drawn from surveys (n = 35) across three module iterations in 2019, 2021, and 2023. Findings indicate student teachers’ growing awareness of language teaching strategies and resources, developing positive orientations toward inclusive and plurilingual pedagogy, and emerging skills in professional collaboration. However, areas for further development include strengthening agency in navigating real-world multilingual teaching scenarios and embedding deeper reflexivity around linguistic identities, integrating students’ home language and intercultural learning. The paper concludes with recommendations to expand access to language teaching resources for diverse student profiles and support collaborative, shared EAL leadership through professional learning communities as part of teacher education reform. Full article

Although it is generally accepted that economic freedom stimulates economic growth, its effects in transitional economies are still up for debate. More empirical research is needed to examine the long-term effects of economic freedom on growth in the Western Balkans, a region characterised by uneven reform trajectories, fiscal pressures, and institutional fragility. This study examines the effects of seven fundamental factors on real GDP per capita growth (annual percentage change) in six Western Balkan nations between 2013 and 2023. These factors include property rights, government spending, government integrity, business freedom, monetary freedom, trade openness, and education spending. Importantly, in order to better capture macroeconomic constraints, it takes into account two fiscal burden indicators: the public debt and the government budget deficit. A triangulated analytical framework is used: Random Forest regression identifies non-linear patterns and ranks the importance of variables; Bayesian Vector Autoregression (VAR) models dynamic interactions and inertia; and the Generalised Method of Moments (GMM) handles endogeneity and reveals causal relationships. The GMM results show that while government integrity (β = −0.0820, p = 0.0206), government spending (β = −0.0066, p = 0.0312), and public debt (β = −0.0172, p = 0.0456) have negative effects on growth, property rights (β = 0.0367, p = 0.0208), monetary freedom (β = 0.0413, p = 0.0221), and the government budget deficit (β = 0.0498, p = 0.0371) have positive and significant effects on growth. Although the majority of economic freedom indicators are statistically insignificant, Bayesian VAR confirms strong growth persistence (GDP(−1) = 0.7169, SE = 0.0373). On the other hand, the Random Forest model identifies the most significant variables as property rights (3.72), public debt (5.88), business freedom (4.65), and government spending (IncNodePurity = 9.80). These results show that the growth effects of economic freedom depend on the context and are mediated by the state of the economy. Market liberalisation and legal certainty promote growth, but their advantages could be offset by inadequate budgetary restraint and difficulties with transitional governance. A hybrid policy approach, one that blends strategic market reforms with improved institutional quality, prudent debt management, and efficient public spending, is necessary for the region to achieve sustainable development. Full article

The development of E-commerce and digitalization drives the rapid change in logistics management practices and poses challenges to traditional talent training modes in logistics field. Nowadays, companies expect university graduates equipped with more practical logistics skills to connect tighter with the industry. This motivates universities to establish more practically relevant curriculums to enhance students’ career competitiveness. Under such background, industry–university collaboration courses are increasingly adopted in higher education institutes in logistics discipline. Due to the difference between this type of course and the traditionally taught courses, the learning outcome of it can be difficult to guarantee. Therefore, it is necessary to identify the influential factors of the learning outcomes of industry–university collaboration courses and establish the actionable strategies to enhance course quality. However, the current literature in logistics management education has little focus on this topic, resulting in gaps on clarifying the influential factors of learning outcomes of industry–university collaboration courses in this discipline. Applying a mixed method, this study conducted a case study for an industry–university collaboration course of a logistics discipline in a Chinese university. The interval-valued Pythagorean fuzzy (IVPF) numbers and the Weighted Aggregated Sum Product Assessment (WASPAS) methods were used. The results showed that there are 15 factors which can influence the outcomes of industry–university collaboration courses in logistics discipline. Among them, the most important factor is the working environment, followed by the students’ own ability. Also, the results indicated that students’ optimistic attitudes towards the course, whether students take the course seriously, and course evaluations can be influential factors for good learning outcomes. The sensitivity analysis was then conducted, showing that the results were robust. This study can contribute to the existing literature by providing a theoretical framework to understand and assess the quality of industry–university collaboration courses in logistics and relevant subjects, as well as offering new analytical tools for management educational studies. Moreover, this study can provide practical implications for educators to develop and maintain good industry–university collaboration courses and trainings. Specifically, a practical life-cycle view was suggested to put pertinent efforts in all periods before/during/after the course to achieve high course outcomes. Full article