Search Results (3,579)

The present study aimed to examine whether self-esteem acts as a mediator in the relationship between problematic internet use (PIU) and well-being among athletes, and to determine the implications of these relationships for educational practice, coaching strategies, and athlete support interventions. A total of 334 Polish athletes participated in the study and completed the Polish versions of the Generalized Problematic Internet Use Scale 2 (GPIUS2), the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (SES), and the Mental Health Continuum-Short Form (MHC-SF). Pearson’s r correlation coefficients and mediation analyses using a bootstrap approach were conducted. The main results showed that PIU was negatively associated with self-esteem and well-being, whereas self-esteem was positively associated with well-being. Statistically significant, although small, indirect associations through self-esteem were observed between PIU and general well-being, as well as between all dimensions of PIU and emotional and psychological well-being. For social well-being, statistically significant indirect associations were observed only for preference for online social interaction and deficient self-regulation. These findings suggest that self-esteem may represent one psychological factor associated with the interrelations between PIU and well-being in athletes. The results may contribute to a more cautious understanding of the links between problematic internet use, self-esteem, and well-being, and may inform psychoeducational and preventive strategies in sport settings while acknowledging the limited practical significance of the observed effects. Full article

Decarbonisation targets are now widely adopted. However, the speed at which renewables are built depends on many factors, including technology, cost, regulation, and the decisions of investors, developers, and governments. Public acceptance is one of these factors, but it is not the decisive one. This article examines public acceptance specifically: the attitudes, perceptions, and preferences of citizens and consumers, which form only one part of the wider social acceptance of renewable energy that also involves policy-makers, intermediaries, and market actors. We ask how public acceptance of renewable energy varies across countries, what drives that variation, and which policy instruments most reliably turn public approval into built capacity. Using a structured narrative synthesis across 21 countries, we integrate major cross-national opinion surveys (Eurobarometer 555, the UNDP–Oxford Peoples’ Climate Vote 2024, Pew, DESNZ, CSIRO, KfW, Ipsos), peer-reviewed work on local community acceptance, and capacity data from IRENA and the IEA. Three findings stand out. Headline support is high almost everywhere—a median of 76% across 77 countries and 85% in the EU—but increasingly masks polarisation, most sharply in the United States, where the partisan gap on prioritising renewables widened from 26 to 49 points between 2020 and 2024. Technology-specific acceptance follows a broadly consistent order, from rooftop solar down through wind, geothermal, hydropower, and biomass to carbon capture and nuclear. And community acceptance turns less on physical proximity to infrastructure than on procedural fairness, place attachment, and meaningful financial participation. Our contribution is integrative: we propose operational indicators of public acceptance that travel across national contexts, a country typology linking acceptance institutions to renewable outcomes, and a five-element policy architecture—early participation, benefit sharing, procedural transparency, place-sensitive siting, and credible information—each mapped to the acceptance dimension it addresses. Full article

Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a portable, non-invasive tool for studying cortical function in children with neurodevelopmental and neurological disorders. Although fNIRS use is increasing, heterogeneous study paradigms and cortical targets have limited cross-condition comparisons and the identification of shared research priorities. This systematic review maps cortical regions and reporting patterns in five key conditions—autism spectrum disorder (ASD), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), cerebral palsy (CP), hypoxic–ischemic encephalopathy (HIE), and epilepsy (Ep)—from January 2015 to December 2025. A systematic search across five databases identified 72 relevant studies meeting PRISMA 2020 criteria, revealing both similarities and differences across disorders. The prefrontal cortex (PFC) was studied in all five conditions (5/5: 100%), making it the most consistently investigated cortical region. The parietal and temporal cortices were studied in 4 of 5 conditions (80%). The frontal cortex had the most regions investigated, while the temporal cortex showed the most consistent coverage across conditions (2.25 conditions per region). Beyond regional preferences, condition-specific patterns were aligned with their disorder phenotypes: social brain networks in ASD, prefrontal executive systems in ADHD, sensorimotor changes in CP, cerebrovascular monitoring in HIE, and state-dependent changes in Ep. Across conditions, researchers found altered prefrontal activity, disrupted connectivity, and compensatory brain responses, supporting broader frameworks. Collectively, these findings identify the PFC as a shared target for transdiagnostic fNIRS investigations while highlighting important gaps in regional coverage and methodological consistency. Despite methodological differences, fNIRS shows promise for identifying both shared and unique brain patterns in pediatric neurodevelopmental and neurological disorders. This review provides a framework for prioritizing cortical targets and guiding future standardized fNIRS research in pediatric populations. Full article

This study examines correlates of preferred future work arrangements among adult residents of the Roanoke Metropolitan Statistical Area, Virginia, a mid-sized U.S. metropolitan region. It focuses on whether remote-work preference varies by sociodemographic characteristics, pandemic-era work-from-home experience, occupational perceptions, and attitudes toward physical interaction. Data were collected through a cross-sectional online survey administered in 2023, during the post-acute pandemic period. After excluding incomplete responses, duplicates, respondents younger than 18 years, cases without verifiable adult eligibility, and cases without verified residence in the study area, the final analytical sample included 636 respondents. Analyses included chi-square tests, Spearman rank correlations, a Stuart–Maxwell test of marginal homogeneity, and an adjusted multinomial logistic regression model. Among respondents with valid preference data in this nonprobability analytical sample, 63.8% preferred fully remote work. Among paired current–preferred cases, preferred arrangements differed significantly from current arrangements, with 87.0% of respondents reporting a directional change preferring movement toward a more remote arrangement. Preferred future work arrangement was significantly associated with age, education, earnings, marital status, housing tenure, perceived work-from-home efficiency, occupational remote-work perceptions, and physical-interaction importance; gender was not significant. Findings indicate substantial but socially differentiated remote-work preference, with implications for workforce planning in mid-sized metropolitan regions. Full article

This study aimed to investigate visitors’ perceptions of ecotourism landscapes in Thailand’s protected areas by integrating spatial, semantic, and affective information derived from social-sensing textual data. To this end, it examined the influence of ecosystem characteristics on thematic expressions and emotional tones across five national parks. Methodologically, a spatio-semantic, natural language processing (NLP) social-sensing framework was developed using geotagged Flickr tags and YouTube comments from international (English) and domestic (Thai) tourists. Textual data were preprocessed (cleaned, normalized, and tokenized) and analyzed using latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA), sentiment analysis, and diversity metrics. Concurrently, YouTube comments were similarly processed using LDA and rule-based sentiment analysis. Subsequently, a Diversity × Topic × Season matrix integrated Flickr-derived indicators with YouTube-derived sentiment and topic dominance. Binary logistic regression was applied to examine cross-platform relationships. The analysis identified three dominant themes, namely Nature & Landscapes, Travel & Activities, and Feelings & Experiences. Forest-mountain parks showed high semantic diversity and strong positive sentiment, whereas marine parks exhibited narrower but predominantly positive activity-driven discourses. Moreover, seasonal variation was evident, with summer and winter yielding the highest diversity and positivity. Building on these results, this study devised a spatio-semantic framework for analyzing variation in visitor expressions across parks and seasons. It captures eco-awareness, perceptions, and preferred activities in protected landscapes. From a practical perspective, semantic diversity and sentiment indicators can support ecotourism management through improved visitor monitoring and communication strategies. Full article

Hexavalent chromium [Cr(VI)] is an established human carcinogen and was identified as the top chemical hazard in U.S. drinking water. Cr(VI) exposure has been associated with adverse neurological outcomes, while high-fat diet consumption is linked to cognitive impairment and neurodegenerative disease. However, limited evidence exists regarding their combined effects on brain health. This study investigated neurobehavioral changes and brain metal concentrations in young rats exposed to low concentrations of Cr(VI) in drinking water (0.05 mg/L or 0.1 mg/L) while fed a normal-fat or high-fat diet for 90 days. Cr(VI) exposure impaired grip strength in rats, while a high-fat diet attenuated this effect. Co-exposure to Cr(VI) with a high-fat diet reduced exploratory behavior and motor function, increased anxiety, and impaired spatial memory while also decreasing overall activity. Both sociability and social novelty preference were altered by the combined exposure in rats. Notably, Cr(VI) with high-fat diet co-exposure induced sex-specific behavioral changes. High-fat diet affected Cr brain accumulation, and Cr(VI) exposure and high-fat diet disrupted essential metal homeostasis in rat brains with sex differences. Jointly, the results suggest combined exposure to Cr(VI) and a high-fat diet may increase the risk of adverse neurological outcomes. Full article

Historical and cultural heritage parks are important spaces for heritage conservation, cultural transmission, and public recreation. However, conventional landscape perception research mainly relies on questionnaires and interviews, making it difficult to capture tourists’ visual preferences at scale. This study proposes a dual-task attention-enhanced ResNet framework based on social media user-generated content (UGC) images to investigate tourists’ landscape perception preferences in historical and cultural heritage parks. Using Yellow Crane Tower Park, Guqintai, and Guishan Scenic Area in Wuhan, China, as case studies, 6221 images were collected from Ctrip, Xiaohongshu, Weibo, and field surveys. The framework jointly performs landscape element detection and aesthetic attribute classification through shared feature representation and attention mechanisms. The proposed model achieved a composite Macro-F1 score of 0.7641, demonstrating robust classification performance. The results show that Buildings and Structures exhibited the highest average prediction probability (0.5824), while Spatial Legibility was the dominant aesthetic attribute (0.5322), indicating a perception pattern characterized by cultural-symbol prominence and enhanced spatial cognition. Vegetation and road networks were positively associated with spatial mystery, whereas excessive visual complexity reduced spatial legibility. These findings demonstrate the value of combining deep learning with social media image analytics for cultural landscape perception research and provide practical insights for landscape planning, heritage conservation, and tourism management. Full article

The Mediterranean region faces severe water scarcity exacerbated by climate change. The reuse of treated industrial wastewater for industrial processes or agricultural irrigation offers a sustainable mitigation strategy, yet its implementation is hindered by low social acceptance and institutional fragmentation. This study aims to enhance treated wastewater reuse (TWWR) uptake within the textile and pharmaceutical sectors in Türkiye and Tunisia through structured stakeholder engagement, hydrological modelling, simulation, and co-design of preferred strategies. Data were collected from regional water authorities, industries, farmers, and civil society, chosen based on their influence, interest, and capacity regarding integrated water management. A Participatory Adaptive Planning framework was applied across three co-designed workshops per site, and interviews. Data were charted using the Natural Assurance Schemes Business Canvas and a conceptual visual support framework. Stakeholders identified key barriers, including legislative gaps in Türkiye and financial capabilities and farmer reluctance in Tunisia. Through the conceptual visual support framework, holistic strategies combining TWWR, water savings, urban treated wastewater quality improvement by tertiary treatment, desalination, and Managed Aquifer Recharge were co-created, simulated and ranked. Technological innovation in wastewater treatment is insufficient without robust “social readiness”. Participatory governance effectively aligns environmental engineering solutions with societal needs, establishing a foundation for resilient and integrated water management action plans. Full article

Social and economic satisfaction gaps are theoretical differences between a resident’s socially or monetarily most preferred affordable home attributes and the actual attributes of their current home. In this study, the satisfaction gaps of two samples of respondents are predicted with their social utility data for preferred attributes in 1987 and 2020, in conjunction with the asking or sale prices and comparable attributes of single detached or similar homes merged with small-area census data for periods up to those dates. Average social and economic gaps of less than 20% affirm respondents’ overall satisfaction with their current homes, most of whom were recent movers. However, wider social satisfaction gaps among the minority of residents may reflect dissatisfaction with new suburban locations in one sample and older inner city housing in the other. Four practical and theoretical contributions of the utility modelling of residential satisfaction gaps in objective and subjective home attributes, as opposed to direct surveying of residential satisfaction, are concluded. Full article

Current approaches to urban greenery often led to a certain uniformity of vegetation. The desire of residents to be able to grow plants according to their own preferences and to co-create the appearance of the surroundings of their houses therefore leads to the emergence of spontaneous initiatives. One of these phenomena is the narrow strips at the interface between the foundations of houses and the sidewalks of streets in continuous urban development, which are used for growing plants and are referred to as “Jardin de la Rue”. The assessment of street vegetation with “Jardin de la Rue” elements took place in the urban district of Saint-Genès, which is part of the city of Bordeaux in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in France. The description of the street vegetation with the “Jardin de la Rue” represents an important first step towards understanding the causes of their creation and the subsequent ecological and social interactions. The creation of these small green spaces is the result of the initiative of residents, and these areas are not part of the planned urban green space. Field surveys in selected streets took place in August–September in 2023, 2024 and 2025. Based on the analysis of the species composition, a total of 107 plant taxa were recorded in the streets. The most frequently recorded ornamental taxa include Lonicera japonica Thunb., Alcea rosea L. and Passiflora caerulea L. The most popular group of cultivated plants consists mainly of lianas, e.g., Akebia quinata (Thunb. ex Houtt.) Decne., Ipomoea purpurea (L.) Roth, Lonicera japonica Thunb., Parthenocissus tricuspidata (Siebold & Zucc.) Planch., Passiflora amethystina J.C.Mikan, Solanum laxum Spreng., Trachelospermum asiaticum (Siebold & Zucc.) Nakai, Trachelospermum jasminoides (Lindl.) Lem. and Wisteria sinensis (Sims) Sweet. The most frequently represented taxa belong mainly to the weed group, e.g., Amaranthus deflexus L., Taraxacum sect. Taraxacum F.H.Wigg., Paspalum dilatatum Poir. The vegetation of the “Jardin de la Rue” elements is a manifestation of the cultural function of plants. The free choice of cultivated taxa allows residents to express their preferences and relationship to the place. Respect for these spontaneous green spaces and their vegetation composition by the city administration is a manifestation of mutual cooperation and at the same time a means of strengthening the ties of residents to their place of residence. These elements may deserve greater consideration within contemporary approaches to construction, architecture and urban planning. Full article

The transition to kindergarten is a critical developmental milestone within the broader continuum of early intervention and early childhood special education, particularly for children with disabilities who must navigate new instructional expectations, service changes, and social environments. This systematic review synthesized 12 peer-reviewed studies to examine parents’ perspectives on this process and the extent to which evidence-based transition practices are reflected in research and practice. Guided by PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses) procedures and appraised using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool, the review identified seven themes: communication and collaboration, transition practices, parental concerns, inclusion priorities, formal and informal supports, transition programs, and implementation gaps. Parents consistently emphasized the importance of early and sustained communication, continuity of services, and culturally responsive engagement while also describing stress, inequities, and gaps in implementation that undermined confidence in schools. Findings further indicate that many practices valued by families align with established evidence-based and recommended practices; however, their implementation remains inconsistent across settings. Although high-intensity, individualized transition practices were valued, they were inconsistently available, and low-intensity events were viewed as insufficient. Emerging evidence on structured transition programs and family-focused interventions suggests promising, yet underutilized, approaches for improving child and family outcomes. Findings highlight that parents serve as central advocates, decision-makers, and partners, underscoring the need for relationship-based, equitable transition systems. Implications for research, practice, and policy include the need to strengthen implementation fidelity, expand access to evidence-based supports, and explore innovative approaches, including technology-enhanced strategies, to improve transition experiences. Future research should prioritize more inclusive and intersectional approaches and evaluate structured interventions that strengthen family–school collaboration. Full article

This mixed-methods study examined preschoolers’ digital home environment (DHE), parent–child digital and traditional literacy activities, children’s interest in literacy across modalities and parent and child perspectives on literacy practices. Participants included 121 Israeli parents of preschool-aged children and their children. Quantitative data were collected via parent questionnaires assessing joint digital literacy activities, general digital activities, parental involvement in selecting digital content, traditional literacy activities, and children’s interest in digital and traditional literacy. Qualitative data comprised parents’ open-ended responses about children’s digital media exposure and children’s perspectives on digital writing. Findings revealed positive associations between digital and traditional literacy practices in the home. Parent–child joint digital literacy activities emerged as the strongest predictor of children’s interest in digital literacy, beyond the effects of children’s age and traditional literacy practices. Conversely, parental involvement in selecting digital content was negatively associated with children’s interest in digital literacy activities. Qualitative findings indicated that parents perceived digital media use as offering educational opportunities while also raising developmental concerns, and placed strong emphasis on parental mediation and supervision. Children associated digital writing with learning, letters, and school-related literacy activities, while also linking computers with play and entertainment. Children’s preferences for handwriting versus keyboard writing were nearly equally divided, with explanations reflecting varied perceptions of convenience, enjoyment, and the meaning of writing in digital contexts. Together, these findings suggest that young children’s digital literacy experiences are shaped less by technology per se and more by the socially mediated interactions surrounding digital media use. Full article

Non-cooperative and manipulative behaviors are strategic actions adopted by experts for diverse reasons, such as rigid preference retention or self-interested exploitation of network structures. To address these challenges, this paper proposes multi-path trust aggregation with decayed trust propagation and a dynamic identification and adaptive penalty mechanism integrating multi-objective optimization to promote the consensus-reaching process in social network group decision-making (SNGDM). First, we propose a multi-path trust aggregation operator with decayed trust propagation, which incorporates a multi-dimensional path analysis framework that evaluates path reliability and structural diversity, thereby building a stable trust network for consensus feedback. Second, a tri-objective consensus optimization model is developed to provide optimal adjustment suggestions by balancing total adjustment cost, consensus degree, and cost fairness. Third, three types of abnormal behaviors are defined, including short-term non-cooperation, persistent non-cooperation, and manipulation. Based on these distinctions, differentiated management mechanisms are introduced. Specifically, a proportional trust decay strategy is applied to non-cooperative behaviors, while an influence-accelerated decay mechanism is designed for manipulative behaviors. In addition, the historical credit index is dynamically linked to unit cost coefficients to force uncooperative and manipulative experts to revise their opinions. Finally, experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach. Full article

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reports are increasingly important for maritime ports and large service and industrial companies, as they measure sustainability, social responsibility, and integration with society. This study aims to strengthen collaboration between port administrations and academia by identifying differences between industry needs and academic focus. The research analyzes ESG indicators from sustainability reports of 23 port administrations and keywords from 34 SCOPUS publications (2020–2025). Indicators and keywords were grouped into ESG dimensions and thematic clusters, generating two criteria: the number of indicators used by ports and the number of keywords in academic research. Two multicriteria decision analysis methods, Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) and Preference Ranking Organization Method for Enrichment Evaluation (PROMETHEE), were applied to rank and compare topics across clusters and criteria. Results show similarities in rankings but also reveal differences in priorities between ports and academia, highlighting the need for stronger collaboration and common ESG indicators. Key priorities identified include data and innovation, ranked 1st and 2nd in the governance pillar, employment and job benefits, ranked 1st in the social pillar, and energy efficiency and management, ranked 1st in the environmental pillar. Differences in some environmental and social topics suggest further efforts are needed to align academic research with port administration priorities. Full article

Cycling infrastructure, as a part of the smart mobility concept, plays a sound role in the urban development and enhancement of quality of life of urban residents. Moreover, the growing attention to the development of cycling paths in cities creates benefits for the local administrations and industries. The evolution of the “cycling” trend is embedded in academic discourse and embraces the discussion on its social, economic, and environmental impacts. However, despite the major attention to these issues in the high-quality academic literature, the authors observe fragmented discussion on the implementation of (novel) digital technologies in the cycling infrastructure in the smart cities. To fill this gap, the present research proposes a conceptual framework for the integration of digital technologies into cycling infrastructure within urban environments and corroborates these findings with a systematic literature review (SLR) of the topical journal articles published from 2020 to 2025 and retrieved from the Scopus database; the SLR follows Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA 2020) guidelines. The findings show an uneven implementation of digital technologies, with IoT-based and AI-based solutions emerging as the most relevant technologies for the development of cycling infrastructure. At the same time, the study highlights a gap in the current literature regarding the role of the private sector, which is still mainly presented as a beneficiary of rather than as an active contributor to innovation. Full article