Search Results (21,085)

Jordan is witnessing a growing market trend of retrofitting existing buildings. The annual construction work on existing buildings in Amman, based on building consents, increased by approximately 46% between 2007 and 2017, while the annual newly built areas decreased by around 33%. This paper aims to establish a solid understanding of the current shift towards existing building adaptation in Jordan by exploring the drivers for this trend and the Government’s role in regulating and, possibly, encouraging it. Ten local experts with extensive experience in retrofitting projects in Jordan and around the region were interviewed. The qualitative and quantitative analysis of experts’ answers was performed using the software NVivo. Findings highlight nine main drivers for retrofitting existing buildings in Jordan, namely: (1) land value and location; (2) reducing capital costs compared to new builds; (3) architectural heritage conservation; (4) social and cultural considerations; (5) adapting to population increase; (6) reusing, adapting, and retrofitting to extend the life of buildings; (7) increasing tourism capacity; (8) improving building performance and resource efficiency; and (9) municipal incentives. Not all these drivers have the same value as they depend on the client and the project context. The experts’ ranking of drivers in terms of priority showed higher consideration for land value and location benefits, social–cultural aspects, and population increase, while municipal incentives emerged as low priority. Further research is needed to design context-specific effective retrofit policies, contributing to the literature in this emerging field in Jordan and beyond. Full article

The limit of disease-modifying therapeutic strategies against epilepsy has prompted mainstream epilepsy research toward understanding the pathways contributing to epileptic seizures. Microglia, the powerhouse of the brain’s innate immune system, is known for its role in epileptic seizures, contributing via neuroinflammation, neuronal death, and neurogenesis. Therapeutic targeting of microglia with its inhibitor and therapeutic compounds modulating its activation reduces the development of spontaneous recurrent seizure after status epilepticus in a pre-clinical model. Herein, we review various aspects of microglia in epilepsy, including their contribution to seizure-induced neuronal death and neurogenesis, the outcome of depleting microglia (both pharmacologically and genetically), the aspects of microglia–astrocyte interaction, and promising therapeutic outcomes achieved by targeting microglia. Full article

Urban heat islands present a significant obstacle to climate adaptation strategies, yet the interplay between surface and atmospheric thermal elements is not fully understood. This research investigates the spatial relationship between land surface temperature (LST) and near-surface air temperature (TAIR) across Zagreb’s 218 local councils during the summer of 2024, assessing the premise that these constitute separate thermal dimensions with varying land cover correlations. Landsat 8/9-derived LST and CERRA-derived TAIR, temporally aligned to the Landsat overpass slot (09:00 UTC), were examined through spatial autocorrelation (Moran’s I, Getis–Ord Gi*), correlation analysis, and Fisher’s z-tests to compare the effects of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Normalized Difference Built-up Index (NDBI). The findings indicated partial coupling (r = 0.537, R² = 0.288), with 71.2% of the variance remaining unexplained, suggesting considerable surface-atmospheric decoupling. Furthermore, hot spot overlap analysis revealed limited convergence (11.9% of neighborhoods), while 44.5% displayed divergent thermal extremes. Land cover showed much stronger connections with LST (NDVI: r = −0.970, R² = 0.941; NDBI: r = +0.973, R² = 0.947) than with TAIR (NDVI: r = −0.478; NDBI: r = +0.496), representing reductions in explained variance of 63–64% (p < 0.001). These findings suggest that surface and atmospheric urban heat are related but distinct thermal aspects. Full article

This paper is based on a Government of Tasmania report which deals with an evaluation of the first year of a new measure that was introduced as part of a government programme concerned with the ‘redesign’ of the child and family welfare service. This redesign represented the culmination of almost two decades of unsuccessful attempts at resolving the difficulties associated with the ‘Wicked Problem’ posed by the Anglosphere ‘child protection’ services. The new measure consisted of the implementation of new conversational procedures in a reorganised ‘Front Door’ as a more efficient and effective means of diverting families away from family audit/inspection/regulation procedures into Family Support programmes. The conversational methodology was originally developed from observational and video ethnographic research in Western Australia, Europe and Scandinavia by the author of this paper. This evaluation of the new measure compares selected aspects of Departmental performance during the year before and the year after its implementation. It omits any reference to Indigenous people since the data supplied by the Tasmanian Government for this evaluation did not include any items on Indigenous status. Full article

Background: Fibromyalgia is a chronic condition characterized by a complex array of symptoms that impact multiple domains, including physical, psychological, and social aspects of an individual’s well-being. Although home-based adapted physical activity (HAP) interventions represent a promising strategy to improve health-related physical fitness (PF), studies on the topic are still lacking and further research is required. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the impact of participation in a 12-week HAP intervention on health-related PF in adult women with fibromyalgia syndrome (FS). Methods: Participants were women with fibromyalgia (n = 29; 47.1 ± 9.5 yrs) assigned to the 12-week HAP program (n = 17) or wait-list control group (n = 12). Participants completed two weekly circuit-training sessions delivered through an online platform. PF components were assessed through a standardized test battery: 30-s chair stand (lower-body strength), arm curl (upper-body strength), 2-min step (cardiorespiratory fitness), back scratch (flexibility) and 8-foot up-and-go test (agility and balance). Three time-point evaluations were planned: at baseline (T0), after 6 weeks (T1), and after 12 weeks (T2). Linear mixed models were used, and partial eta-squared (η²p) effect sizes were calculated. Results: A significant time × group interaction emerged for upper body strength (p = 0.001; η²p = 0.404), agility (p < 0.001; η²p = 0.569) and cardiorespiratory fitness (p = 0.009, η²p = 0.292). Specifically, from baseline to 12 weeks, the experimental group improved in the arm-curl test (from 15.8 ± 4.5 to 18.9 ± 5.0 repetitions), agility (from 6.6 ± 1.5 to 5.2 ± 1.1 s), and cardiorespiratory fitness (from 69.1 ± 18.8 to 77.2 ± 21.1 repetitions), while the control group showed no meaningful changes. Conclusions: The participation in a 12-week HAP intervention had a positive impact on different components of PF in women with FS, which may have implications for greater physical autonomy and well-being. Full article

Under the context of global change, forest cover, as a critical component of terrestrial ecosystems, exerts a profound influence on regional ecological security and sustainable development through its spatiotemporal evolution. Current research on forest cover change primarily focuses on pattern description and single-factor driver analysis, with insufficient in-depth exploration of the interactions among multiple factors and their associated nonlinear mechanisms. To address this gap, this study focuses on the Wumeng Mountain area, a typical ecologically fragile karst region in Southwest China. By comprehensively employing methods such as Theil–Sen Median trend analysis, land use transfer matrix, standard deviation ellipse, and spatial autocorrelation analysis, this study systematically reveals the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics of forest cover from 1985 to 2024. On this basis, an integrated eXtreme Gradient Boosting–SHapley Additive exPlanations (XGBoost-SHAP) model is introduced to construct an indicator system comprising 16 driving variables, including elevation, slope, aspect, temperature, precipitation, soil type, soil pH, soil thickness, soil organic matter, soil moisture content, GDP, population, distance from water, distance from railway, distance from grade highway, and distance from government. This model quantifies the influence intensity of each driving factor on forest change. The main findings are as follows: (1) From 1985 to 2024, the forest cover rate in the Wumeng Mountain area significantly increased from 54.7% to 60.2%, exhibiting a “high-low-high” heterogeneous spatial distribution pattern along the northeast-southwest axis; (2) Forest increase primarily originated from the conversion of cropland and grassland, with contribution rates reaching 93.58% and 5.9%, respectively, indicating an overall trend of “increase in low-value areas and decrease in high-value areas”; (3) Forest cover change is driven by both natural and anthropogenic factors, with dominant driving factors exhibiting phased replacement over time. Overall, this is manifested as long-term stable constraints exerted by natural background factors, alongside strong disturbances from anthropogenic factors such as social-economic, and transportation-related activities. Natural factors remain the primary driving force behind changes in forest cover. The core findings of this study elucidate the complex driving factors of forest change in karst mountainous areas, thereby providing scientific support for the precise management of regional forest resources, the planning of ecological restoration projects, and the implementation of sustainable development strategies. Full article

Paeonia lactiflora Pall. (herbaceous peony) is a high-value ornamental and medicinal plant in China with considerable market potential. However, conventional propagation methods are limited by low multiplication rates and long production cycles, making it difficult to meet the demand for large-scale planting materials. As a key approach for rapid propagation, tissue culture techniques for P. lactiflora have achieved significant progress in recent years. This review summarizes advances in the tissue culture system for P. lactiflora over the past decade, focusing on major in vitro regeneration pathways (organogenesis and somatic embryogenesis) and crucial technical stages, including explant selection and culture environment optimization. Distinct from previous reviews that only introduce partial technical aspects of P. lactiflora tissue culture, this review comprehensively outlines the overall tissue culture system, analyses the current species-specific bottlenecks (browning, vitrification, rooting and acclimatization) with their underlying causes and proposes targeted strategies. Furthermore, future development trends are prospected by integrating emerging research directions, including molecular regulatory mechanisms and eco-adaptive breeding. This review aims to provide a theoretical foundation and technical support for obtaining propagule for commercial plantations and achieving multi-functional utilization of P. lactiflora. Full article

In the field of human–robot interaction (HRI), researchers have extensively examined the role of social robot characteristics and how these can influence human–robot relationships. In particular, the robot’s voice is one of the most studied aspects, with numerous studies focusing on specific features such as tone, frequency, pitch, and gender. The robot’s voice represents a powerful social signal, whose design can influence people’s affective evaluations and acceptance of robots. With regard to language, however, relatively few studies have investigated the role of a robot’s accent (native or foreign). This experimental study therefore explores the influence of native accent on trust in robots. The study was conducted on two different samples: 60 Italian participants and 37 Arabic participants. Participants listened to two robot presentations in their native language: one delivered with a native accent and the other with a foreign accent. After listening to both presentations, participants were asked to indicate which robot they trusted. The results showed a 77.3% preference for the robot speaking with a native accent, compared to 22.7% for the robot with foreign accent. These findings demonstrate that, regardless of the language (Italian or Arabic), accent significantly influences the choice to invest trust in the robot, supporting the similarity-attraction effect. Accent calibration thus emerges as a low-cost, high-impact parameter in socially assistive and commercial robotics. Since accent influences trust-based delegation, voice design should be strategically adapted in service, healthcare, education, and customer-facing contexts. Full article

Digital Twins (DTs) are increasingly explored in tourism and hospitality as enabling technologies for smart destinations, service optimization, and data-driven decision-making. Yet these environments are inherently human-centered. Existing DT implementations, however, are largely technology-driven and focus mostly on infrastructures and operational processes. This study presents a systematic literature review of DT applications in tourism and hospitality. It combines a comparative taxonomy with a technological and data-oriented analysis to examine how these systems are currently conceptualized, implemented, and integrated. The review analyzes 42 studies, classifying them by application level, twin focus, architectural approach, and human integration. The results show a strong dominance of destination- and facility-level DTs, limited human-centered models, and a prevalent use of varied sensing technologies. There is limited attention to interoperability and semantic integration. Governance, socio-technical aspects, and real-time synchronization mechanisms are also mostly underexplored. Based on these findings, this study identifies key research gaps and calls for a shift towards Social Digital Twins (SDTs). SDTs integrate human actors, social interactions, and governance within unified modelling frameworks. This transition will require advances in semantic and ontology-driven architectures. Greater attention to privacy, trust, and user acceptance in data-intensive service environments is also needed. Full article

Cancer is a major public health challenge worldwide, with increasing incidence and a growing economic and societal burden. Despite therapeutic advances, prevention remains the most effective strategy to reduce its impact. The One Health approach, which recognizes the interconnection between human, animal, and environmental health, provides a valuable framework to address cancer risk factors in a more integrated and sustainable way. This narrative review addresses cancer through a One Health lens. Human health aspects include the global burden, major lifestyle and infectious risk factors, and key prevention strategies. Environmental determinants of cancer are summarized with emphasis on climate change, air pollution, occupational exposures, microplastics, ultraviolet radiation, and nutrition/food safety. Animal health contributions include insights from comparative oncology, which offer translational opportunities for prevention, diagnosis, and treatment, and from microbiome research revealing promising biomarkers for early detection and treatment response. Integrating cancer prevention into the One Health framework is essential for addressing the complex interplay between environmental, animal, and human health. A multidisciplinary approach can enhance public health policies, promote sustainable prevention measures, and improve early detection and treatment strategies, ultimately reducing healthcare costs and advancing global health outcomes. Full article

Street soundscapes significantly shape communities’ environmental perceptions, behaviour and urban sustainability. Previous research has mainly focused on physical and acoustic aspects, while limited attention has been given to emotional and behavioural dimensions. This study explores how expert participants perceive street soundscapes through personal, physical, behavioural, and emotional dimensions, using international online focus groups with soundscape experts, urban planners, and policymakers (n = 12). Analysis followed a deductive thematic approach establishing four main a priori themes, with additional inductive coding used to refine these themes. The findings reveal that perception is shaped by contextual, cultural, temporal, multisensory, and environmental affordance factors. Notably, silence was found to carry a dilemma—perceived as either safe or unsafe depending on pedestrian density—and religious and cultural soundmarks were identified as evoking place attachment and belonging, areas largely overlooked in existing literature. These soundscapes were associated with emotional responses, including comfort, safety, restoration, and belonging, and with pedestrian behaviour encompassing mobility choices, coping strategies, and social interactions. Furthermore, seven out of ten Healthy Streets metrics were directly referenced by participants, highlighting the close relationship between acoustic environments and healthy streets design. Future studies should examine cultural, temporal, and spatial street characteristics and their effects on human behaviour and emotional responses. Full article

Energy poverty, as an emerging form of poverty, is key to consolidating the achievements of poverty alleviation and is also an important cornerstone for promoting energy transformation, social equity, and people’s well-being. Based on data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) for 2018 to 2022, we use the head of household’s subjective happiness to proxy for family happiness. Using a two-way fixed-effects model, we analyze the impact of energy poverty on family happiness and its mechanism from the theoretical and empirical aspects. The conclusions are as follows: (1) Energy poverty has a significant negative impact on family happiness, and the estimated results of instrumental variables after solving endogeneity are consistent. (2) Heterogeneity analysis finds that for families with relatively advantaged economic conditions, such as non-relatively poor families, urban families, and families with no loans, energy poverty significantly reduces their happiness, which contradicts our conventional understanding. (3) Mechanism analysis shows that energy poverty affects income gaps, health status, and economic status, which in turn affect family happiness. The respective percentages coming from the mechanisms of income gap, health status, and economic status are 43.31%, 26.11%, and 9.55%. We directly link energy sustainability, a core area of sustainable development, with residents’ well-being. It fills the systematic research gap on how energy poverty affects household happiness and deepens our understanding of its underlying transmission mechanism. Furthermore, it enriches research on the implementation pathways of energy policy and common prosperity, broadens the boundaries of research in energy economy and social welfare, and provides important practical implications for advancing energy inclusion and rural revitalization within the sustainable development framework. Full article

Despite growing recognition of holistic care in gerontology, the role of spirituality and religion in physiotherapy practice remains underexplored. This study examines Maltese physiotherapists’ perceptions and awareness of religious and spiritual care in the treatment of older persons, contributing to an untapped area in local research and adding to the limited international literature, particularly within Mediterranean and predominantly Catholic healthcare contexts. A questionnaire was distributed via SurveyMonkey to government sector physiotherapists in Malta. Findings revealed that while physiotherapists recognised the importance of incorporating spiritual and religious considerations into older persons’ care, they often viewed such care as outside their clinical responsibilities. Key barriers included limited training, insufficient knowledge, and time constraints. Notably, physiotherapists with personal religious or spiritual beliefs were more inclined to integrate these aspects into their practice compared to their atheist or agnostic counterparts. The study underlines the need for enhanced training at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels and advocates for qualitative research to deepen understanding of the barriers and facilitators to spiritual care. Addressing these gaps will promote holistic, person-centred care that respects individual beliefs, ultimately enhancing outcomes for older persons. Full article

Outdoor thermal comfort in university courtyards is a key factor influencing students’ environmental experience and the usability of outdoor spaces in hot-arid climates. Courtyard design may also affect the environmental conditions of adjacent classrooms by modifying solar exposure, shading, air movement, and surface heat gain. Accordingly, this study aims to develop optimized design scenarios for improving outdoor thermal comfort in university courtyards through hybrid passive strategies, including vegetation, shading systems, and cool pavements. To achieve this goal, the research adopted a combined field-based and simulation-based methodology. Field measurements and student questionnaires for 292 students were conducted in courtyards and classrooms of three university buildings in Luxor, Egypt. These buildings represent different urban morphologies, courtyard aspect ratios, geometric configurations, and student densities. In parallel, simulation models were developed using ENVI-met V5.6.1 and Rhinoceros V8 with Grasshopper, to test and compare various design scenarios. Field monitoring revealed that wider courtyards with low aspect ratios (0.28–0.38), lacking trees and finished with concrete paving, recorded lower CO₂ concentrations (around 800 ppm), but experienced higher surface and air temperatures. These elevated temperatures negatively affected outdoor thermal comfort and increased heat gain in classrooms overlooking the courtyards. In contrast, courtyards with higher aspect ratios (0.63–0.82) demonstrated better microclimatic moderation and improved comfort conditions. Simulation results indicate that integrating a belt vegetation pattern of Cassia leptophylla, combined with textile shading and cool pavements with an albedo of 0.5, can reduce the Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) by up to 14.7 °C, shifting conditions toward moderate heat stress. The findings provide practical design guidance for upgrading existing university courtyards and designing future educational buildings in hot-arid climates to enhance student comfort and environmental performance. Full article

In elite youth soccer, the objective is to identify, develop, and enhance players’ ability to support their progression. During adolescence, players of the same chronological age often show differences in technical, tactical, physical, and psychological performance due to variations in biological maturation. The bio-banding (BB) format tries to reduce these discrepancies by grouping players with maturity-matched peers, promoting development within a maturity-respecting environment. This review synthesizes the effects of BB on soccer-specific performance in comparison to traditional chronological-age (CA) grouping. PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science (Core and Medline), and BASE databases were searched, and experimental studies using crossover, such as those applying both BB and CA in young soccer players, were considered eligible. Eleven experimental studies were included. Most of the investigated outcomes focused on physical performance (n = 9) and technical and tactical characteristics (n = 8), while psychological aspects were less examined (n = 2). Moreover, two studies further assessed how different BB methods influenced the investigated outcomes. The evidence confirms that BB influences youth soccer player characteristics, showing differences compared to CA grouping. BB can be an approach for optimizing individual growth but is not a definitive solution, presenting limits that require careful management, appropriate challenge, and integration with injury prevention and workload monitoring. Further research is needed to clarify its performance-related impact across maturity statuses. Full article