Search Results (447)

At a time when globalisation and the economic crisis have forced a reduction in public expenditure at all levels, social policy and social welfare systems’ efforts for sustainable development are focused on identifying alternative ways to provide integrated services and achieve balanced social development. Post-colonial Cyprus has experienced radical socio-political changes that have demanded rapid responses to address its needs. This paper aims to discuss the role of the Cypriot voluntary sector in the national integrated care. Within the spectrum of ensuring social rights and social justice, the voluntary sector has emerged as a key factor of social policy implementation. Through the exploration and analysis of this context, an in-depth insight is given into socio-political and economic factors, dimensions, relationships, processes, patterns, and critical junctures that, under the influence of history, have shaped the voluntary sector’s path, formed its major stages of transformation, and defined its relationship with structures and institutions. Full article

This theoretical essay aims to analyze some of the socio-economic innovations introduced by Platform Capitalism Specifically, it focuses on two main aspects: first, the digital platform as a radical organizational innovation. Digital platforms represent a structural novelty in the market economy, signaling a new organization of production and labor. Second, the essay examines the role of platforms in directly generating value through the concept of “network value”. To this end, it explores the function of “business intelligence” as a strategic and competitive tool. Finally, the paper discusses the key issues associated with platform capitalism, which could threaten its social sustainability and contribute to economic and financial instability. These issues include the increasing commodification of everyday activities, the devaluation of paid labor in favor of free production driven by platform users (the so-called prosumers), and the emergence of proprietary and financial monopolies. Hence, digital platforms do not inherently ensure comprehensive social and environmental sustainability unless supported by targeted economic policy interventions. Conclusively, it is emphasized that defining robust social welfare frameworks—which account for emerging value creation processes—is imperative. Simultaneously, policymakers must incentivize the proliferation of cooperative platforms capable of fostering experimental circular economy models aligned with ecological sustainability. Full article

A comprehensive metabolic profiling of Catharanthus roseus (L.) G. Don was performed using tandem mass spectrometry, along with an evaluation of the biological activities of its various solvent extracts. Among these, the methanolic leaf extract exhibited mild radical scavenging activity, low to moderate antimicrobial activity, and limited cytotoxicity in both the brine shrimp lethality assay and MTT assay against HeLa and A549 cell lines. High-performance liquid chromatography–electrospray ionization–high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-ESI-HRMS/MS) analysis led to the annotation of 34 metabolites, primarily alkaloids. These included 23 indole alkaloids, two fatty acids, two pentacyclic triterpenoids, one amino acid, four porphyrin derivatives, one glyceride, and one chlorin derivative. Notably, two metabolites—2,3-dihydroxypropyl 9,12,15-octadecatrienoate and (10S)-hydroxypheophorbide A—were identified for the first time in C. roseus. Furthermore, Global Natural Products Social Molecular Networking (GNPS) analysis revealed 18 additional metabolites, including epoxypheophorbide A, 11,12-dehydroursolic acid lactone, and 20-isocatharanthine. These findings highlight the diverse secondary metabolite profile of C. roseus and support its potential as a source of bioactive compounds for therapeutic development. Full article

This article identifies the structural factors underlying the rise of the Populist Radical Right (PRR) in Europe and evaluates its implications for liberal democracies. Our research finds that the emergence of the PRR is driven by the decay of democratic institutions resulting from the neoliberal globalization that was catalyzed by the collapse of the Soviet Union. We argue that the electoral success of the PRR lies in its capacity to use emotionally charged, single-issue narratives that resonate with the political demands of orphaned electorates, who engage in protest voting to express their frustrated expectations. Far from being an ephemeral phenomenon, we show that the PRR reflects structural transformations of the liberal political architecture, and is capable to further eroding democratic institutions by procedurally adopting liberal norms as a means to undermine them. A critical reassessment of the liberal perspective is necessary to address the dysfunctions of democratic institutions. Full article

This essay examines two hybrid poetic texts that emerged from a period of feminist activism in U.S. and global poetry communities from 2014 to 2017: the collaboratively, anonymously authored “No Manifesto” (2015) and the radically revised second edition of the book of poetry and visual art YOU DA ONE by Jennif(f)er Tamayo. “No Manifesto” and YOU DA ONE embrace the hybrid tactics of collectivity, incongruity, and nonresolution as ways of protesting sexism and sexual violence in poetry communities. Synthesizing theories of hybridity from poetry criticism as well as immigrant and borderlands studies, the essay defines hybridity as a literary representation of cultural positions forcefully imposed upon subjects. Born out of the domination of sexual and state violence, hybridity marks the wound that remakes the subject, who develops strategies for resistance. By refusing to play by the rules of poetic or social discourse—the logics of domination that would have them be singular, cohesive, and compliant—Tamayo and the authors of “No Manifesto” insist on alternative ways of performing activism, composing literature, and entering the public sphere. These socially engaged, hybrid poetic texts demonstrate the power of the collective to disrupt the social and literary status quo. Full article

The development and validation of the Ideological Radicalization Sensitivity Inventory (ISIR-14) in a Mexican sample is presented. A total of 537 participants were assessed. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses supported a five-factor structure that explained 53.7% of the variance, with excellent model fit indices (CFI = 0.985, TLI = 0.978, RMSEA = 0.033). Evidence of concurrent validity was suggested through significant correlations with the Emotional Response to Unfairness Scale (ERU) and the Exposure to Violent Extremism Scale (EXPO-12). Reliability analyses indicated good internal consistency (ω = 0.819) for the instrument. Additionally, temporal stability, analyzed in a second study with 171 participants, showed moderate stability (r = 0.601). The study aimed to test the hypothesis that sensitivity to ideological radicalization can be reliably measured through a multidimensional instrument aligned with theoretically derived psychological risk factors, namely, inclination to seek redress, perceived social disconnection, ideological superiority, exposure to extreme ideologies, and collective/group identity. The results suggest that the ISIR-14 is a reliable and valid tool for assessing sensitivity to ideological radicalization. The scale provides a foundation for future research and interventions aimed at identifying and addressing factors associated with radicalization processes. Full article

This research analyzes the discourses and narratives surrounding the platform tourism economy in a highly touristified city, using Madrid as a case study. Rather than focusing on the socio-economic or spatial transformations themselves, the study examines how these processes are discussed, identifying the discursive strategies employed by different actors and ideologies, along with the power relations embedded in these narratives. A corpus of literature was compiled from twelve newspapers with varying ideological orientations and categorized according to political stance, access mode, and ideological radicalism. Using the LancsBox concordancer, a quantitative analysis was conducted to identify key discursive categories and preferred lexical items across ideological positions. These findings informed a subsequent in-depth qualitative analysis aimed at uncovering the rationalities behind each discourse: who speaks, how, and with what intent. The results reveal a dominant left-wing narrative that emphasizes institutional and economic mechanisms underlying platform tourism, highlighting associated social and urban harms. In contrast, conservative and liberal narratives are divided into two strands: a ‘heretic’ discourse that promotes and defends this new economic model, but also its urban results (e.g., gentrification), and a more institutional narrative framing platform tourism as inevitable and benign, thereby concealing the underlying structures of power. Full article

This community-based participatory research (CBPR) study explored, using a Photovoice methodology, the lived expeiences of northeastern Black and/or African American youth and mothers who were currently experiencing the incarceration of their fathers and husbands. Grounded in critical theories of dual consciousness and comparative conflict, the findings provide valuable insights into how this population navigates the intersections of family, school, and community within the context of the criminal legal system, and, in the process, underscore the relevance of Abolitionist practice in capturing their theoretically lived experiences. Participants documented through photography and narrative reflections the multifaceted impacts of incarceration on fathers and husbands, including disrupted family dynamics, social stigma, and barriers to community resources. A focus group with the mothers of these youth highlighted the profound impact of incarceration on their family structure, revealing significant emotional burdens for caregivers as well as personal changes to parenting styles as a result of this project. A central theme that emerged was the development of a “double” or “dual consciousness”—an ability to see humanity and injustice in their circumstances, fueling a desire for systemic change. Overall, this CBPR project amplifies the voices of marginalized youth and mothers, illuminating how the criminal legal system perpetuates cycles of trauma, stigma, and disempowerment. The implications call for a radical reimagining of the role of social work in creating more equitable, restorative, and healing-centered communities, including an immediate embrace of Abolitionist practice concepts and interventions. Full article

The recent increase in extremist material on social media platforms makes serious countermeasures to international cybersecurity and national security efforts more difficult. RADAR#, a deep ensemble approach for the detection of radicalization in Arabic tweets, is introduced in this paper. Our model combines a hybrid CNN-Bi-LSTM framework with a top Arabic transformer model (AraBERT) through a weighted ensemble strategy. We employ domain-specific Arabic tweet pre-processing techniques and a custom attention layer to better focus on radicalization indicators. Experiments over a 89,816 Arabic tweet dataset indicate that RADAR# reaches 98% accuracy and a 97% F1-score, surpassing advanced approaches. The ensemble strategy is particularly beneficial in handling dialectical variations and context-sensitive words common in Arabic social media updates. We provide a full performance analysis of the model, including ablation studies and attention visualization for better interpretability. Our contribution is useful to the cybersecurity community through an effective early detection mechanism of online radicalization in Arabic language content, which can be potentially applied in counter-terrorism and online content moderation. Full article

This study proposes a new concept that explains a source of technological change: The invasive behaviour of general purpose technologies that breaks into scientific and technological ecosystems with accelerated diffusion of new products and processes that destroy the usage value of all units previously used. This study highlights the dynamics of the invasive destruction of new path-breaking technologies in driving innovative activity. Invasive technologies conquer the scientific, technological, and business spaces of alternative technologies by introducing manifold radical innovations that support technological, economic, and social change. The proposed theoretical framework is verified empirically in new technologies of neural network architectures, comparing transformer technology (a deep learning architecture having unsupervised and semi-supervised algorithms that create new contents and mimic human ability, supporting Generative Artificial Intelligence) to Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) and Recurrent Neural Networks (RNNs). Statistical evidence here, based on patent analyses, reveals that the exponential growth rate of transformer technology over a period of five years (2020–2024) is 45.91% more than double compared to the alternative technologies of LSTM (21.17%) and RNN (18.15%). Moreover, the proposed invasive rate in technological space shows that is very high for transformer technology at the level of 2.2%, whereas for LSTM it is 1.39% and for RNN it is 1.22% over 2020–2024, respectively. Invasive behaviour of drastic technologies is a new approach that can explain one of the major causes of global technological change and this scientific examination here significantly contributes to our understanding of the current dynamics in technological evolution of the Artificial Intelligence technology having high industrial impacts on the progress of human society. Full article

The COVID-19 pandemic has radically transformed behavioral science research. While many disciplines have been shown increasing attention in the existing literature, behavioral science uniquely revisits old questions to develop new theoretical perspectives for the post-COVID-19 era. Our systematic search of the literature allowed us to map 505 records that met our criteria, found across 102 papers; from these, we chose 11 articles published between 2021 and 2024. The focus of this review is on examining old questions while providing fresh insights into social, psychological, cognitive, healthcare, and human behavior. The findings emphasize the relevance of the TPB, the HBM, SCT, and the COM-B model, which effectively provide new theoretical insights into post-COVID-19 research. This study shows that theory-informed practices have been integrated into behavioral science research since the COVID-19 pandemic. Practical applications depend on these insights, which can inform evidence-based practice of planned behavior in healthcare policy, academic research, and community practice. Full article

With the rapid advancement of e-commerce delivery technologies, understanding consumer responses to different types of innovations has become increasingly important. This study examines how consumers react to incremental innovations (e.g., smart lockers) versus radical innovations (e.g., autonomous drones) by integrating personal innovativeness into the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) framework. Based on 300 valid survey responses from Chinese consumers and analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM), the findings demonstrate that personal innovativeness significantly influences key adoption determinants—performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, and facilitating conditions. The adoption of smart lockers is primarily driven by perceived performance and convenience, whereas the adoption of autonomous drones is more strongly shaped by social influence. The proposed model provides both theoretical and practical implications for firms seeking to promote diverse e-commerce delivery technologies. Full article

Despite the climate crisis, a significant barrier to sustainability is limitations to the current accounting and reporting system. These deficiencies, mean the global financial system continues to invest trillions of dollars annually in environmentally sub-optimal projects. To catalyze the economic transition away from fossil-fuel and plastic configurations to more sustainable ones, sustainability accounting and reporting (SAR) is imperative. However, theoretical contention, pragmatic concerns, and costs stoke strong resistance to SAR. The research used ablative thematic analysis to apply hermeneutic phenomenology. First, it scanned the backdrop to the SAR problem and identified a corpus of recent literature from key associated institutions. The initial interpretation of the texts disentangled SAR’s conflicting threads and generated three themes of ‘climate crisis’ and ‘conservative’ or more ‘radical’ SAR reform paradigms. Iteratively harnessing these thematic lenses, the investigation re-examined the SAR literature corpus. The textual ‘dialogue’ generated understanding of the fragmented SAR responses to the climate crisis. Accordingly, the research reformulated its first theme to ‘dystopic climate crisis fragmentation’ and refined the other themes to take account of materiality and the split between Anglo-Saxon (IFRS, SSAB) or global (UN) and continental European accounting institutions (EU, GRI). Conservatives retain a single materiality investor-focus and concede only incremental standard improvements. Radicals seek to implement double materiality with a broader spectrum of stakeholders in mind. Both approaches have theoretical as well as pragmatic advantages and disadvantages, so the SAR contention rumbles on. Whilst the standard-setting landscape is evolving, disagreements remain. Its roots of contention are philosophical and pragmatic. Philosophically, radicals strive to temper libertarian anarcho-capitalist proclivities and broaden firm responsibility. Pragmatically, social, or environmental externalities are problematic to assign or measure. Given vested interests in the destructive status quo, it would be naïve to expect a harmonious SAR Ithaca to emerge anytime soon. Yet the challenges impel an intensification of SAR dialogue and concrete actions. Rather than a scientifically nomothetic contribution, the paper provides a qualitative, artful interpretation of a complex, contentious but crucial field. Full article

Since the 1960s, Iran’s major cities have experienced significant migration from the country’s rural areas and from other nations. Although many urban planning and design concepts can be traced back to Iran, the country’s planning machinery has failed to effectively regulate urban growth, notably in the city peripheries, where land use has changed radically as semi-rural areas have been developed in a haphazard fashion with scant adherence to existing plans and planning regulations. Farahzad is one such area in the urban periphery of Tehran, where a range of sub-standard dwellings have been built, and urban services are deficient in many regards. This article examines how the urban landscape has evolved, how the resident population has grown, and the nature of the social and economic issues that persist today. The research method combines an analysis of the extant literature and local authority documentation, images developed from GIS data, and first-hand interviews with local practitioners to explore the growth of the neighbourhood in recent decades and assess the current problems confronting both residents and local authorities. The novelty of this article lies in the use of GIS-generated images and urban fabric classifications to assess the growth of the neighbourhood since the turn of century, during which time the planning machinery has generally failed to provide an adequate framework for development in this area of the Tehran urban periphery. Indeed, findings suggest that land use zoning has played little part in guiding or controlling urban development in Farahzad, and that identifying urban fabrics may prove a useful way of assessing socio-economic and physical development needs in such circumstances. This article makes a small contribution to our understanding of the change dynamics in a peripheral neighbourhood of a major city in the developing world. Full article

This study investigates the incremental renovation of urban villages in Beijing, with a focus on the socio-spatial transformation of rental spaces. By integrating field surveys, building mapping, questionnaire research, and Kano model analysis, we identify key patterns and strategies for improving living conditions, preserving community culture, and promoting social integration. The main contributions of this study include (1) revealing the architectural characteristics and stages of incremental renovation of different rental spaces in urban villages and their diverse tenant needs, (2) applying the Kano model to prioritize tenant needs and guide targeted renovations, and (3) advocating an inclusive socio-spatial transformation strategy that balances development with the protection of vulnerable groups. This approach offers a sustainable alternative to radical urban renewal, ensuring dignified living conditions and opportunities for all residents. Full article