Search Results (424)

A just and sustainable energy transition in historically coal-dependent regions like Kentucky requires more than the adoption of new technologies and market-based solutions. This study uses a stated preferences approach to evaluate public support for various attributes of energy transition programs, revealing broad backing for moving away from coal, as indicated by a negative willingness to pay (WTP) for the status quo (–USD 4.63). Key findings show strong bipartisan support for solar energy, with Democrats showing the highest WTP at USD 8.29, followed closely by Independents/Others at USD 8.22, and Republicans at USD 8.08. Wind energy also garnered support, particularly among Republicans (USD 4.04), who may view it as more industry-compatible and less ideologically polarizing. Job creation was a dominant priority across political affiliations, especially for Independents (USD 9.07), indicating a preference for tangible, near-term economic benefits. Similarly, preserving cultural values tied to coal received support among Independents/Others (USD 4.98), emphasizing the importance of place-based identity in shaping preferences. In contrast, social support programs (e.g., job retraining) and certain post-mining land uses (e.g., recreation and conservation) were less favored, possibly due to their abstract nature, delayed benefits, and political framing. Findings from Kentucky offer insights for other coal-reliant states like Wyoming, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Indiana, and Illinois. Ultimately, equitable transitions must integrate local voices, address cultural and economic realities, and ensure community-driven planning and investment. Full article

This study investigates how differing national research governance models impact academic performance by comparing European Research Council (ERC) grant winners in the social sciences and humanities from France and the Netherlands. Situated within the broader context of centralized versus decentralized research systems, the analysis aims to understand how these structures shape publication trends, thematic diversity, and collaboration patterns. Drawing on Scopus and SciVal data covering 9996 publications by 305 ERC winners between 2019 and 2023, we employed a multi-method approach, including latent Dirichlet allocation for topic modeling, compound annual growth rate analysis, and co-authorship network analysis. The results show that neuroscience, climate change, and psychology are dominant domains, with language and linguistics particularly prevalent in France and law and political science in the Netherlands. French ERC winners are more likely to be affiliated with national or sectoral institutions, whereas in the Netherlands, elite universities dominate. Collaboration emerged as a key success factor, with an average of four co-authors per publication and network analyses revealing central figures who bridge topical clusters. International collaborations were consistently linked with higher visibility, while single-authored publications showed limited impact. These findings suggest that institutional context and collaborative practices significantly shape research performance in both countries. Full article

We investigated how participants’ humor styles impact their sarcasm use. English-speaking participants (N = 179) completed online self-report measures of humor styles and sarcasm use. We conducted linear regressions to test whether their humor style scores could predict their sarcasm use scores. Participants with higher affiliative humor scores reported a greater tendency to use sarcasm in general and to use face-saving sarcasm to protect the social images of the speaker and addressee. People use face-saving sarcasm to enhance their relationships, to tease others, and to self-deprecate. Surprisingly, participants who scored high on aggressive humor reported using face-saving sarcasm often. We suspect this occurred because the aggressive humor and the face-saving scales contain conceptually similar items. Participants with high aggressive humor scores also reported frequently using sarcasm to diffuse frustration. Participants who scored high on self-defeating humor reported often using both face-saving sarcasm and sarcasm to diffuse embarrassment. Given that face-saving sarcasm use was uniquely predicted by affiliative humor, aggressive humor, and self-defeating humor scores, we suggest that face-saving sarcasm use has utility for people with a wide range of humor styles. Our findings highlight how an individual’s humor style shapes their flexible use of sarcasm in interpersonal relationships. Full article

Focusing on the dynamic change process of urban ecology and economy, this paper explores the spatial correlation pattern of cities in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region for sustainable development from 2012 to 2023 based on the coupled coordination model, gravitational model, and social network analysis (SNA). First, the sustainable development level of the city shows a certain upward trend in the time dimension. In the spatial dimension, there is significant regional differentiation, which roughly shows the development characteristics of gradual increase from the interior to the coast. Second, cities with lower-level sustainable development and higher-level sustainable development always maintain their own stability, but being adjacent to a city with lower-level sustainable development increases the probability of an improvement. Third, cities that play an important role in driving the level of spatial correlation for sustainable development are mainly concentrated in the central and eastern parts of the YRD, with Shanghai, Suzhou, Nanjing, and Hangzhou being the most important radiation centers in the pattern of spatial correlation. Fourth, the affiliation system of sustainable development gradually changes from the double core system of Shanghai–Suzhou to the triple core system of Shanghai–Suzhou–Hangzhou to drive and lead the development of the subordinate cities. Fifth, the spatial network can be categorized into four plates: benefit, overflow, bilateral spillover, and broker, with obvious linkage effects between plates. Full article

There are discriminatory, structured, opaque human rights violations that keep the socioeconomically vulnerable subservient, a social problem that goes against the core Christian principle: humans are created in the image of God and all share equal dignity. Studies show that sociocultural, political, and economic elements are available in society, which form into clusters, namely social representations, helping people to categorize others and interact with her/him. They carry with them the historical consciousness, providing the people with social-living tools such as social identity and the like. The qualitative empirical research conducted among the Catholic youth of Tamil Nadu, India, showed that the enslaving semantic elements contained in the social knowledge facilitate the youth to affiliate with a group and to disaffiliate from another. Caste-ridden endogamic semantic elements are part of this knowledge. This affects individual as well as social cognition. Therefore, besides conceptual understanding, epistemological approaches are necessary to eliminate the enslaving elements contained in social knowledge. This is possible through the Ego–Alter dialogue. Ego stands for an individual, group, institution, movement, or anything similar. Alter can stand for social knowledge, which is available in society. Full article

Proclaiming Our Roots (POR) began as an academic community-based research initiative documenting Afro-Indigenous identities and lived experiences through digital oral storytelling. Since its inception, Proclaiming Our Roots has grown into a grassroots social movement focused on self-determination, cultural reclamation, and resistance to colonial erasure. This paper explores Proclaiming Our Root’s evolution, from a research project to a grassroots social movement, analyzing how storytelling, relational accountability, and Indigenous, Black, and Afro-Indigenous governance have shaped its development. Drawing on Indigenous methodologies and grounded in Afro-Indigenous worldviews, we examine how POR mobilizes digital storytelling, community gatherings, and intergenerational dialog to give voice to Afro-Indigenous identity, build collective consciousness, and challenge dominant narratives that erase or marginalize Black, Indigenous, and Afro-Indigenous presence. Through a sharing circle involving Proclaiming Our Roots community members, advisory council members, and the research team, in this paper we identify key themes that reflect the movement’s transformative impact: Identity and Belonging, Storytelling as Decolonial Praxis, Healing, Spirituality and Collective Consciousness, and Resistance and Social Movement Building. We discuss how these themes illustrate Proclaiming Our Roots’ dual role as a site of knowledge production and political action, navigating tensions between institutional affiliation and community autonomy. By prioritizing Afro-Indigenous epistemologies and centering lived experience, POR demonstrates how academic research can be a foundation for long-term, relational, and community-led movement-building. In this paper, we want to contribute to broader discussions around the sustainability of grassroots movements, the role of storytelling in social change for Indigenous and Black Peoples, and the possibilities of decolonial knowledge production as epistemic justice. We offer a model for how academic research-initiated projects can remain accountable to the communities with whom we work, while actively participating in liberatory re-imaginings. Full article

The Road-STEAMer Horizon Europe Program examines STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) education policies across Europe, with a specific focus on integrating the arts into traditional STEM disciplines. Through the analysis of open-access repositories, official documents, and stakeholder interviews, this study conducts both a macroanalysis of European policies and a detailed analysis of national initiatives. The research categorizes EU member states into three groups: high-priority countries (Belgium, France, Bulgaria, Finland, and Germany), countries acknowledging the importance of STEAM with partial initiatives, and those in early development stages. Special attention is given to grassroots initiatives. The findings reveal significant variation among member states and affiliated countries, driven by unique national challenges. In many cases, STEM/STEAM programs are closely linked to broader societal issues, such as financial development, digital transition, and social inequalities. Full article

The recent debate on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) factors has focused primarily on financial decision making and risk management from the perspectives of developed economies. However, in most developing countries, ESG risk models for mortgage lenders are very limited. In most of these countries, ESG-rating providers employ widely varying methodologies and disclosure policies, often resulting in divergent assessments of the same organization. This research develops a pilot statistical-analysis, dual-horizon ESG risk model specific to the Mexican mortgage industry, which provides a better understanding of how ESG risk could evolve over time across financial, operational, regulatory, and reputational dimensions in Mexico. This dual-horizon ESG framework considers a two-year short-term risk assessment and a ten-year long-term risk assessment. This research integrates expert opinions with a scoring system that improves on traditional methods. Dependability and internal consistency are tested using the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) and Cronbach’s alpha. Radar chart visualization and cluster analysis are used to visualize the empirical results. The empirical findings show that environmental risk has strong temporal effects, and the perceived severity is 20% higher over the longer time horizon. Furthermore, social risk exhibits high variability, identifying it as a critical risk for financial stability and regulatory compliance. Cluster analysis identifies systematic patterns in expert opinions that determine two groups, making the qualitative findings derived from radar plots more robust. Group 0 (75% of experts) has an institutional view about ESG risks. Group 1 (25% of experts) aligns with an affiliation to large financial institutions. Finally, this research identifies three key sustainability challenges for the mortgage sector in Mexico: exposure to climate-induced stress, fragmented regulatory frameworks, and social inequality. Full article

This study examines critical challenges associated with religious literacy in contemporary South Korea and educational approaches to address them. By analyzing data from the Religious Literacy Survey 2023 (n = 2022), we reveal that these paradoxical attitudes stem from a declining religious literacy, manifested as limited knowledge of religious traditions and their teachings. Amid the rise in the number of the religiously unaffiliated, our analysis indicates that this trend reflects not a rejection of religion but rather an urgent need for education to enhance religious literacy. Based on this analysis, we examine religious education curricula at Dongguk and Yonsei Universities as exemplars that not only deepen students’ understanding of specific religious traditions but also help them recognize religion’s enduring relevance in addressing contemporary societal challenges. Building on these cases, while recognizing their limitations as religiously affiliated institutions, we emphasize the need for an integrated educational approach to religious literacy—one that extends beyond specific traditions and incorporates religious studies examining various dimensions of religion itself. We further suggest the broader implementation of religious literacy education across higher education institutions. Such educational approaches provide insights into fostering social cohesion and meaningful interreligious engagement in South Korea and beyond. Full article

Tongue-nibbling is a rare and previously undocumented affiliative behaviour in free-ranging killer whales (Orcinus orca), until now seen only in individuals under human care. This study presents the first recorded observation of tongue-nibbling between two wild killer whales in the Kvænangen fjords, Norway. The interaction, captured opportunistically by citizen scientists during a snorkelling expedition, lasted nearly two minutes and involved repeated episodes of gentle, face-to-face oral contact. This behaviour closely resembles sequences observed and described in detail in zoological settings, suggesting that it forms part of the species’ natural social repertoire. The observation also supports the interpretation of tongue-nibbling as a socially affiliative behaviour, likely involved in reinforcing social bonds, particularly among juveniles. The prolonged maintenance of this interaction in managed populations originating from geographically distinct Atlantic and Pacific lineages further indicates its behavioural conservation across contexts. This finding underscores the importance of underwater ethological observation in capturing cryptic social behaviours in cetaceans and illustrates the value of integrating citizen science into systematic behavioural documentation. The study also reinforces the relevance of managed populations in ethological research and highlights the ethical need for carefully regulated wildlife interaction protocols in marine tourism. Full article

Research on religion and migration has often focused on institutions and belief systems, while overlooking how mediation links migrants, sacred objects, rituals, and religious imaginaries. This study advances mediation as a core analytic in religion–migration studies by examining the practices of ten Thai migrant students in South Korea through semi-structured interviews on Buddhist amulets, Hindu deity pendants, Catholic rosaries, merit-making, and the elevation of sacred objects. Guided by Meyer’s religion-as-mediation framework and Taylor’s concept of the social imaginary, the analysis shows that quotidian, embodied engagements with sacred objects mediate and materialize Thai Buddhist–Animist imaginaries in Korean settings, expanding, transnationalizing, and hybridizing them through encounters with the host environment. These practices not only sustain spiritual continuity, but also generate sacred transnational social spaces that bridge both the ontological divide between the human and the transcendent and the geographical divide between Thailand and Korea. Rather than being preserved through institutional affiliation, migrant religiosity is continually reconstituted through everyday embodied practices of mediation that render the sacred experientially real in the host society. By foregrounding mediation, this study offers a reconceptualization of migrant religion as an embodied, material, and world-making process—one through which migrants actively reimagine and inhabit sacred spaces across borders. Full article

Latvia after the collapse of the Soviet Union regained its independence in 1991. Since then, many political and social reforms have been introduced, minority education among them. Latvia began gradually abandoning the use of minority languages as mediums of instruction and switching to teaching exclusively in Latvian as the sole state language. This caused protests by minority groups, especially by Russians—the largest minority group in Latvia. The article examines 77 online news articles by Latvian, Russian, and European media covering protests against minority education reform in Latvia between 2004 and 2024. Each news article used at least one photograph/video of placard(s) with written information from the protests. The aim of the article is to understand how different media represent the linguistic landscape of protests against minority education reform and what are the main discourses they create and maintain regarding to the linguistic landscape of such protests in Latvia. The description of the linguistic landscapes shows three main trends: (1) only journalists (most often anonymous) describe the written information expressed at the protests, (2) emphasis is on the number of placard holders at the protests, their age and affiliation with minority support organizations and political parties, (3) author(s) quote individual slogans, more often demonstrated from one protest to another, without disclosing in which language they were originally written and what problems (within and behind the language education) they highlight or conceal. The main narratives that are reinforced through the descriptions of the linguistic landscapes included in the articles are two: (1) the Russian community is united and persistent in the fight against the ethnolinguistically unjust education policy pursued by the government, and (2) students, parents, and the Russian community should have the right to choose which educational program to study at school. Full article

For generations, a silent symbol of politics in U.S. religious congregations has been the presence of the national flag in worship spaces. Despite debates over the flag, there is limited empirical research on its contemporary prevalence or influence in congregations. Building upon research on social sorting, we hypothesize that people with conservative religion and conservative politics sort into congregations displaying the flag. Additionally, we hypothesize a priming effect whereby worshipping with the U.S. flag elevates support for Christian nationalism. Findings from the 2021 Baylor Religion Survey reveal that nearly half of religiously affiliated U.S. adults worship with the flag, most notably members of white Protestant religious traditions (more so than Catholics) and older adults. Regardless of religious tradition or political ideology, worshipping with the flag is associated with support for Christian nationalist beliefs. These finding highlight a sorting process into American congregations and hint at political socialization occurring within them. Full article

Background: Perinatal depression and anxiety can be experienced simultaneously and change over time. This study aimed to explore the independent and joint developmental trajectories and predictors of perinatal depression and anxiety. Methods: From January 2022 to December 2023, a total of 1062 pregnant women from Affiliated Women’s Hospital of Jiangnan University were surveyed for depression and anxiety symptoms using the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7) in early pregnancy (T1, 0–13⁺⁶ weeks), mid-term pregnancy (T2, 14–27⁺⁶ weeks), late pregnancy (T3, 28–41 weeks), and 42 days postpartum (T4). Parallel-process latent class growth model (PPLCGM) was performed to identify the joint developmental trajectories of perinatal depression and anxiety, and logistic regression was used to analyze factors of joint trajectories. Results: Perinatal depression and anxiety each showed four heterogeneous developmental trajectories, and three joint developmental trajectories were identified: “high–slightly decreasing depression and high decreasing anxiety group” (3%), “low–stable depression and low–stable anxiety group” (71%), and “moderate–slightly increasing depression and moderate–decreasing anxiety group” (26%). Adverse maternal history, history of anxiety and depression, and work stress were risk factors for the joint developmental trajectory of perinatal depression and anxiety, while regular exercise, paid work and social support were protective factors. Conclusions: Three joint developmental trajectories for perinatal depression and anxiety were identified, demonstrating group heterogeneity. Perinatal healthcare providers should pay attention to the mental health history of pregnant women, conduct multiple assessments of perinatal anxiety and depression, prioritize individuals with risk factors, and advocate for regular exercise, work participation, and provide greater social support. Full article

This study investigates the impact of human resource management (HRM) practices—specifically planning, recruitment, training, and motivation—on dimensions of career quality (job security, promotion equity, and participatory decision-making) among employees of the Jordan Electricity Distribution Company (JEDCO). Utilizing a quantitative cross-sectional survey design, data were collected from 173 employees, allowing for an in-depth exploration of their perceptions and experiences regarding HRM practices. The findings reveal that both training and motivation significantly enhance career quality, with employees who receive advanced training reporting a stronger sense of job security and an increased likelihood to participate in decision-making processes. In contrast, the effects of recruitment and planning practices were found to be marginal due to perceived biases and strategies that fail to adequately address the long-term needs of the workforce. Despite moderate overall career quality scores, key areas for improvement were identified, particularly in job security and employee involvement. This study offers actionable recommendations for JEDCO, such as implementing AI-driven recruitment tools to mitigate nepotism and developing gamified training modules to enhance skill development. Furthermore, it underscores the importance of integrating HRM reforms into Jordan’s National Energy Strategy, thereby supporting Sustainable Development Goal 8. This research represents the first empirical examination linking HRM practices to career quality in Jordan’s energy sector, offering a framework applicable to public utilities in emerging economies (e.g., Lebanon’s EDL). This research extends Social Exchange Theory into non-Western hierarchical contexts, demonstrating how bureaucratic inertia and tribal affiliations weaken reciprocity dynamics—a novel boundary condition contrasting Western-centric SET models. Full article