Search Results (3,665)

This article examines Slavoj Žižek’s critique of ecocentrism through the lens of Lacanian ideology theory, asking how the ecological crisis is symbolically organized in contemporary discourse. Rather than treating ecocentrism as a coherent ecological doctrine, it approaches it as an ideological formation that shapes how environmental breakdown is interpreted, moralized, and acted upon. The article argues that appeals to “nature” often construct it as a normative horizon of balance, limit, or lost order through which crisis becomes intelligible in specific ways. It then traces the conceptual, subjective, and social operations through which ecocentrism acquires force: ecological disruption is narrated through images of harmony and violation, responsibility is individualized through guilt and obligation, and ecological concern is absorbed into green capitalist practices such as ethical consumption and managed environmental responsibility. In this way, ecocentrism can function not only as a language of ecological critique but also as a framework that obscures the historically specific political–economic processes driving environmental destruction. The article does not deny the urgency of the ecological crisis. Rather, it argues for a more materially mediated account of ecological politics, one that is more attentive to capitalist accumulation, infrastructural systems, and unequal social relations in producing socioecological harm. Full article

This study contrasts the Ganhwa Seon (看話禪) practice theories of Dahui Zonggao, Gaofeng Yuanmiao, and Mengshan Deyi with the focused attention/open monitoring (FA/OM) model proposed by Lutz et al. and the three-family model developed by Dahl et al., both of which are meditation classification frameworks based on cognitive mechanisms. Although these two frameworks have served as standard models in comparative meditation research, their criteria are based primarily on the sati tradition of Theravāda Buddhism and on Tibetan meditation and therefore have difficulty fully accounting for the principles of East Asian Seon practice. Using the Dahui Pujue Chanshi Shu, Gaofeng Yuanmiao Chanshi Chanyao, and Mengshan Heshang Fayu Lüelu as primary sources, this study compares Ganhwa Seon with the two meditation frameworks along five axes: attentional structure, core mechanism, the status of faith (信心), patterns of progression, and epistemological premises. The analysis shows that the huatou, as a conceptually irresolvable question, is neither a determinate object of FA nor the absence of an object characteristic of OM. Yiqing (疑情) operates not by stabilizing attention but by continuously deepening the question. The process by which yiqing condenses into a mass of doubt (疑團) eliminates the very separation between observer and object and thus differs from the investigation-based self-inquiry of the deconstructive family. Faith constitutes the basis on which yiqing arises, and therefore classifications organized solely around attentional functions have difficulty capturing this constitutive relationship. Progress in practice likewise has a nonlinear structure, involving not the gradual automatization of a technique but a leap into sudden enlightenment (頓悟) through the crisis of the silver mountain and iron wall. The cognitive crisis here is not an incidental by-product but an intentionally designed mechanism. Furthermore, the Eight Don’ts (八不得), by excluding introspective observation and rational analysis, indicate the need for a new approach to existing research methodologies that have presupposed introspective self-report. In conclusion, this study proposes that Ganhwa Seon be treated as a distinct unit of analysis in comparative meditation research. Rather than replacing existing classification frameworks, this proposal aims to broaden and supplement their attentional-function-based classification axes toward a more pluralistic classification model. Full article

As an integrated educational model that combines inquiry-based learning with travel experiences, study travel plays a significant role in fostering students’ social responsibility, innovative spirit, and practical abilities, and has attracted growing attention worldwide. Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, this study conducts a systematic review of the literature published between 1950 and 2025. It identifies six major themes corresponding to the three stages of study travel. Through bibliometric analysis, the research delineates publication trends, core journal distributions, and keyword co-occurrence networks in the field. The findings indicate that experiential learning, constructivism, and transformative learning theory constitute the dominant theoretical foundations in current scholarship. Moreover, a notable “learning–travel imbalance” is observed, whereby educational processes and learning outcomes receive substantially more scholarly attention than travel attributes, industry logic, and managerial dimensions. This paper offers a systematic mapping of the knowledge terrain and theoretical architecture in international study travel research, clarifies existing gaps, and suggests directions for future interdisciplinary integration and for deeper synthesis of “learning” and “travel” in both research and practice. Full article

The topic of “intercultural hermeneutics” has gained increasing attention since the 1990s. In the German-speaking world, missiologist and scholar of religion Theo Sundermeier (b. 1935) called for a “hermeneutics of difference” in his book “Den Fremden verstehen” (1996). The present article outlines key concepts of Sundermeier’s approach but identifies a significant gap regarding the theory of power. While a theory of power is absent from Sundermeier’s hermeneutics, the author has developed intercultural hermeneutics as “discourse semiotics”, which he further elaborates in this essay. The author argues that Michel Foucault’s theory of power—specifically its emphasis on the diffuse nature of power—has led to the introduction of stereotypes within various postcolonial studies approaches (like Edward Said in his book Orientalism); the assertion of “Othering” has, in effect, made understanding the “stranger” nearly impossible. Drawing on the work of Herbert Paul Grice and James S. Coleman, the article calls for a theory of power grounded in action theory and illustrates the significance of this approach through an example. The thesis is that a theory of power grounded in action theory is required as a basis for an intercultural and interreligious hermeneutics in order to falsify and avoid postcolonial stereotyping. Full article

Background: Inclusive educational assessment requires tools that capture how learners with diverse cognitive profiles engage with tasks. This study examines whether a game-based, gaze-contingent eye-tracking task can generate relevant indicators for inclusive assessment of autistic children and children with dyslexia. Methods: Forty-five children (15 autistic, 15 with dyslexia, 15 neurotypical) completed a Unity 3D eye-tracking task assessing implicit joint attention, inhibitory control, and task engagement. Six gaze-based metrics were analyzed alongside standardized measures of joint attention, theory of mind, working memory, and processing speed. Group differences in the eye-tracking metrics were examined using permutation-based analysis of covariance controlling for chronological age and Full-Scale IQ, and associations with clinical measures were examined using a small set of pre-specified, Holm-corrected Spearman correlations. Results: Significant group differences were observed for five of the six metrics (partial η² = 0.33–0.81). The autistic group showed the highest values on difficulty-related metrics and differed significantly from both the neurotypical and dyslexia groups on nearly every measure, while the neurotypical and dyslexia groups did not differ significantly from each other. One correlation remained significant after correction for multiple comparisons: task efficiency in the autistic group was linked to a behavioral correlate of theory of mind. Conclusions: Gaze-based indicators within a game-based task can differentiate autistic children from neurotypical and dyslexic peers and show a preliminary behavioral correlate of theory of mind in autism specifically. These findings offer narrow, preliminary support for the value of process-oriented tools for inclusive educational assessment. Future research should examine feasibility, validity, and psychometric stability in larger, matched samples and in authentic school contexts. Full article

Aviation ground safety and protective devices are critical for flight safety; however, their unintentional retention on aircraft after maintenance remains a persistent risk. Existing deep learning-based approaches for aviation safety have predominantly followed a reactive paradigm, detecting FOD on runways or inspecting the aircraft for inadvertently retained tools post-maintenance. In contrast, this paper advocates a proactive philosophy: using a neural network to recognize and inventory all ground safety and protective devices immediately after maintenance closure, thereby preventing retention incidents at their source. However, realizing this proactive verification is technically challenging—object detection for these devices often suffers from loss of fine-grained detail due to downsampling and inherently sparse semantic information of the targets. To this end, we propose an Information Retention and Feature Screening Synergistic Network (RS-Net) grounded in information bottleneck theory. The network comprises a main branch that enhances discriminative features through attention-guided screening, and an auxiliary branch, used only during training, that preserves fine-grained spatial details via information-retentive convolutions. A Dual-State Region Refinement Module (DRM) provides configurable support for both branches, decoupling the conflicting objectives of background compression and detail preservation. Experiments on a self-constructed dataset collected from real airline maintenance operations demonstrate that RS-Net substantially outperforms the strong YOLOv9 baseline, achieving gains of 4.531% in F1-score, 2.533% in mAP_0.5, and 1.429% in mAP_0.5:0.95. Cross-dataset experiments further validate its strong generalization capability. Full article

Cementitious composites inevitably develop cracks during service, leading to the ingress of harmful agents and durability deterioration. Permeable crystalline agents (PCAs) have attracted extensive attention due to their combined potential for reinforcement, impermeability, and self-healing. However, the existing studies still lack a unified analysis of the controversies regarding the modification mechanisms of different PCAs, and their mechanical properties, durability, and self-healing capacity have not yet been systematically integrated. To clarify the aforementioned divergences and identify future research directions, this paper adopts a narrative literature review approach, systematically searching relevant publications from the past fifteen years in the CNKI and WOS databases. It comprehensively summarizes the compositional characteristics, action mechanisms of PCAs, and their influence on the evolution of strength, durability, and self-healing performance of cementitious composites. The results indicate that the precipitation–crystallization theory and the complexation–precipitation synergy theory each have distinct emphases in explaining the mechanism, and their combined interpretation can more fully reveal the working essence of PCAs. The performance of PCA-modified cementitious composites is influenced by factors such as PCA composition, PCA dosage, and a curing environment; therefore, engineering parameters should be reasonably determined based on specific working conditions. Finally, recommendations for future research directions on PCA-modified cementitious composites are proposed. Full article

First-year students in STEM programs face significant academic and personal challenges that can undermine retention and success, particularly for those navigating new institutional environments without prior college experience. While self- regulated learning (SRL) theory offers a well-established framework for understanding how students plan and reflect, less attention has been paid to the performance phase, the stage where students must translate plans into action amid real academic and social demands. This qualitative study examines the experiences of 15 first-year life science students across three institution types, a Hispanic-Serving Institution, a predominantly white institution, and a liberal arts college, to investigate what plans students formed at the end of their first semester and what factors facilitated or hindered implementation during their second semester. Using thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews, three major plan themes emerged: help-seeking, internal academic adjustments, and managing social and emotional well-being. Facilitating factors for these plans included small class sizes, anonymized participation tools, approachable instructors, peer and family support, counseling services, and structured planning tools, while hindering factors included fear of judgment, high instructor-student ratios, scheduling conflicts, academic burnout, and unsupportive living environments. The findings reveal that plan implementation depended on the interplay of intersecting psychological, social, and structural factors, which created unique conditions that influenced whether students were able to enact their plans. Importantly, the findings reveal that plan implementation unfolded not as a linear process but through nested micro-cycles of forethought, performance, and reflection within the performance phase, triggered by specific events throughout the semester. These findings have implications for how institutions design learner-centered support for STEM students not only at key transition points, but also throughout the semester, to address the conditions that influence whether students are able to successfully implement, adapt, or abandon their regulatory efforts. Full article

Open banking enables customers to provide third parties with financial information, yet this will be successful only when customers are ready to share it. Previous research concentrates on security, trust, and usefulness as direct motivators without paying attention to mechanisms. This research fills this gap by evaluating the effect of Perceived Security Assurance, Trust in Banks and FinTech Providers, and Perceived Usefulness on Willingness to Share Financial Data based on Perceived Data Control, which is based on Privacy Calculus Theory. A combination of cluster and purposive sampling was used to collect data from digital banking users in five regions in Saudi Arabia. There were a total of 384 valid responses that were analysed. SmartPLS 4 was used to run Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling. The results reveal that PSA, TBFP, PUOB, and PDC directly impact WSFD and that PSA, TBFP, and PUOB also have a considerable impact on PDC. The outcomes of the mediation confirm that PDC mediates these relationships partially. Multi-group analysis also shows that these effects are greater amongst users with less experience in FinTech and with younger customers, especially in the pathways that involve perceived data control. The work adds to the theory in two ways. The extension of the Privacy Calculus Theory by adding the perceived control and pointing out the heterogeneity of users in data-sharing behaviour. It also changes the attention from the general adoption intention to the actual data-sharing behaviour in open banking. Practically, the results suggest that to foster customer engagement in open banking ecosystems, it is necessary to improve security, develop trust, prove value, provide user control, and use segment-specific actions. Full article

Design studio education requires sustained attention and prolonged occupancy of a shared workspace, making environmental opportunities for brief recovery potentially relevant to students’ well-being. This exploratory study used affordance theory as an interpretive lens to examine the environmental modifications students proposed from their assigned desk positions and the extent to which sketch content was associated with academic year, studio location, and desk-level window view access. The dataset comprised 71 structured sketches, geometric view metrics for 85 workstations that were linked to the 71 sketch participants for inferential analyses, and a nonmatched lighting survey administered to the same cohorts one year later (n = 57). Sketches were coded into 17 modification categories. Water and Collaborative/Social Space were retained descriptively but excluded from inferential interpretation because of quasi-complete separation. Fifteen ordinary logistic regression models were evaluated with Benjamini–Hochberg false-discovery-rate correction, together with a complementary specification omitting studio location. Plants (73.2%), natural shapes/patterns (52.1%), and electric light quality (52.1%) were the most frequent modifications. In the primary models, Technology (q = 0.033) and Plants (q = 0.047) retained FDR-supported omnibus fit; only the academic-year coefficient for Technology retained FDR support (OR = 0.17, 95% CI [0.06, 0.50], q = 0.021). The study identifies environmental preferences and hypotheses for future intervention in restorative learning environments research. Full article

Social movements increasingly rely on digital platforms to mobilize support, raise awareness, and coordinate collective action. At the same time, however, the rise of online activism has intensified concerns regarding “slacktivism”, namely forms of symbolic and low-effort engagement that fail to translate into consequential social action. Existing theoretical accounts have explained this phenomenon in terms of impression management, in-group enhancing, or moral licensing, but have paid little attention to how publicly expressing support for a social cause through online behaviors should undermine actual action, while overlooking the role of audiences in such a process. Drawing on symbolic self-completion theory (SCT), the present paper proposes a complementary motivational perspective. Specifically, we argue that publicly displaying identity-relevant symbols (e.g., posts supporting social causes) within like-minded online networks may generate a premature sense of completeness regarding an aspired-to identity (e.g., being a gender equality advocate), thereby reducing motivation to pursue difficult, high-effort behaviors required for genuine social change. Furthermore, we conceptualize social media echo chambers not merely as informationally homogeneous environments, but as non-dissenting validators of one’s identity goal symbols. By prioritizing symbolic recognition over cross-group dialogue and intervention, social media echo chambers may inadvertently undermine the social progress they purport to promote. Full article

Background: Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) in Brazil faces persistent retention challenges despite growing demand for qualified workers. Although Self-Determination Theory (SDT) offers a framework for understanding motivation, dropout research has often emphasized individual and socioeconomic factors, giving less attention to institutional conditions. Methods: This critical narrative review synthesizes theoretical, empirical, and policy-oriented literature on SDT, TVET, motivation, engagement, and dropout prevention, anchored mainly in Brazilian studies, educational statistics, and policy documents. A transparent, non-systematic search informed by SANRA organized the evidence around three institutional dimensions: curriculum, teaching practices, and student support and belonging. Complementary theories clarified the explanatory scope and limits of SDT. Results: Motivation in Brazilian TVET emerges as context-dependent and institutionally co-produced. Curricular organization, teaching practices, support structures, and equity policies may support or frustrate autonomy, competence, and relatedness and are associated with differences in engagement and vulnerability to dropout. The review proposes a three-level conceptual diagnostic architecture and five evidence-informed prevention axes. The architecture organizes candidate measures and contextual indicators; it is not an empirically validated predictive model. Conclusions: TVET dropout should not be interpreted solely as individual failure but may also be examined as a possible indicator of institutional motivational climate. The framework is calibrated to Brazilian TVET and requires prospective, multicenter, equity-sensitive validation against observed dropout outcomes before use for individual risk prediction or broader international adaptation. Full article

Since the term ‘first-generation college student’ (FGCS) garnered increased attention in the 2000s, many institutions have implemented programming specifically for FGCS (e.g., bridge programs, first-year seminars). FGCS should be key stakeholders who inform programming. As such, qualitative research is needed to elevate FGCS voices. To date, little research has examined adjustment and well-being in FGCS. This study included qualitative interviews (approximately 30 min) concerning adjustment and well-being in FGCS (N = 24; 79% female, M age = 19, 92% White), defined as students whose parents have not completed a four-year bachelor’s degree. Participants’ responses were coded according to Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory levels, to account for the multi-layered systems (e.g., family, high school, university, peers) that impact their risk and resilience before and during college. One central theme was how seeking help from family, peers, and university resources promoted resilience. Conversely, individual risk factors (e.g., low socioeconomic status; insufficient guidance) interacted with the high school environment and economic landscape of higher education to confer risk. Overall, many challenges (e.g., mental health) improved over time. Students made recommendations for both high school and university staff about how to best support FGCS, which have implications for programming at the high school and university level. Full article

Undular bores are classical shallow-water phenomena in which a sharp transition between two flow states is replaced, in a dispersive theory, by an oscillatory wave train. In non-dispersive shallow-water theory, the bore is associated with an apparent loss of mechanical energy. In dispersive models, this energy can be interpreted as being redistributed into the oscillatory tail. The aim of this short article is to formulate a possible extension of this interpretation when surface tension is included. The capillary contribution modifies the long-wave dispersion coefficient through a Bond-number-dependent term and adds an additional surface energy to the total energy functional. We derive the basic capillary-gravity KdV scaling, identify the modified energy density, and discuss how surface tension may affect the amplitude, wavelength, and energy flux of the trailing oscillations. The proposed direction is relevant for small-scale laboratory bores, tidal-bore fronts, and shallow tidal currents in which a rapid transition generates short dispersive oscillations. Special attention is paid to the critical value $Bo=1/3$, where the classical KdV dispersion vanishes, and a fifth-order correction is required. Full article

Mixed Reality (MR) serious games combine immersive technologies with game-based learning to support training, skill development, and decision-making across diverse disciplines in university education. Although previous research has demonstrated improvements in engagement, usability, and learning outcomes, less attention has been devoted to developing design recommendations and methodological approaches for studying MR serious games. A theory-derived Meta Quest 3-based MR serious game for diagnostic classification was developed by integrating learning theories, gameplay mechanics, and gamification features while functioning as both an educational intervention and a research instrument. The system was evaluated through two complementary studies involving undergraduate students: the first compared learning outcomes across instructional approaches, whereas the second examined learner performance and transfer using a mixed-method approach incorporating objective metrics, questionnaires, and interviews. The proposed system achieved learning outcomes comparable to expert-guided field training while significantly outperforming classroom instruction and self-directed study. Significant transfer to real-world diagnostic tasks was demonstrated, and complementary evidence was triangulated to derive preliminary design recommendations and a multi-dimensional methodological framework. These contributions provide an initial foundation for the systematic design and study of MR serious games in higher education. Full article