Search Results (12,120)

Looking into early Christian–Muslim relations seems to be the outcome of greater interest in Islam transcultural encounters due to current issues of mass migration. Sicily presents an informative example of the interaction between different ethnic and religious groups over centuries. Several scholars, including Jeremy Johns, Alex Metcalfe and Julie Taylor, have explored the social and administrative position of Christians and Muslims within the complex society of Sicily, although their contributions were largely from the umbrella of Norman Sicily from the eleventh to the thirteenth centuries. Thus, there is a need to shift away from the Normans’ experience to exploring Christian–Muslim relations in Sicily during the ninth through eleventh centuries, especially the expansion, society and activities during the rule of the Fāṭimids of Ifrīqiya (909–965) and their Kalbid allies (948–1053). These forms of relationships are not only important for Sicily but for the whole region of the central Mediterranean. This paper will build on the works of Umberto Rizzitano and other scholars to explore the relations between the Arabs and Muslims and the Christians in Sicily during the Muslim rule of the Island. Using Arabic and Islamic sources, including travel accounts by the Muslim geographer Ibn Ḥawqal (d. 988), this paper aims to discuss the lives of Christians and their dynamic exchanges with Muslims within the social and political complexities of Aghlabid and Fāṭimid Sicily as well as Sicily’s link to North Africa (Ifrīqiya). Sicily’s proximity to North Africa and to Europe has been an essential aspect of its history, which facilitated movement of communities between these regions. The paper will also compare the policies of the Fāṭimids towards Christians in Sicily with their relations towards their Christian subjects in Cairo, Egypt. It will show the pragmatic aspects of this relationship concerning marriage, legal status, the movement of people, and cultural and intellectual exchange. Christians and Muslims practised cultural hybridisation that brought changes in Sicily with respect to language, religion, and social habits, resulting in a distinctive Sicilian multicultural identity. Full article

Travel safety and comfort depend on the design and maintenance of road and stormwater drainage systems. In low-lying areas, poor drainage systems can—especially near underpasses—lead to flooding and serious risks, such as reduced load-bearing capacity hydroplaning, where tires lose grip. This study focuses on the effect of granular material deposits on the surface roughness of roadside gutters, as expressed through the Gauckler–Strickler coefficient. The literature equations have pointed out that this coefficient is largely affected by the grain size distribution of granular material. To this end, a field study was carried out in six urban roads in San Nicola la Strada, Italy, with the objectives of the following: (1) identifying the grain size distribution of the material deposited in roadside gutters; (2) estimating how such material decreased in the cross-sectional area of the gutters, as well as increasing their flow resistance, ultimately resulting in decreased water conveyance. Considering gutters with deposited material rather than clean ones results in the failure of three out of six gutters to effectively drain stormwater. Full article

Localization of a semi-humanoid mobile robot Pepper is proposed based on the particle swarm optimization algorithm (PSO) that is robust to the disturbance perturbations of LIDAR-measured distances from the mobile robot to the walls of the robot real laboratory workspace. The novel PSO, with the avoiding local minima algorithm (PSO-ALM), uses a novel fitness function that can prevent the PSO search from trapping into the local minima and thus prevent the mobile robot from misidentifying the actual location. The fitness function penalizes nonsense solutions by introducing continuous integrity checks of solutions between two different consecutive locations. The proposed methodology enables accurate and real-time global localization of a mobile robot, given the underlying a priori map, with a consistent and predictable time complexity. Numerical simulations and real-world laboratory experiments with different a priori map accuracies have been conducted to prove the proper functioning of the method. The results have been compared with the benchmarks, i.e., the plain vanilla PSO and the built-in robot’s odometrical method, a genetic algorithm with included elitism and adaptive mutation rate (GA), the same GA algorithm with the included ALM algorithm (GA-ALM), the state-of-the-art plain vanilla golden eagle optimization (GEO) algorithm, and the same GEO algorithm with the added ALM algorithm (GEO-ALM). The results showed similar performance with the odometrical method right after recalibration and significantly better performance after some traveled distance. The GA and GEO algorithms with or without the ALM extension gave us similar results according to the accuracy of localization. The optimization algorithms’ performance with added ALM algorithms was much better at not getting caught in the local minimum, while the PSO-ALM algorithm gave us the overall best results. Full article

The deployment of traditional ground-penetrating radar (GPR) systems for ice detection on steep terrain presents substantial safety challenges for ground crews due to inaccessibility and hazardous working conditions. However, airborne GPR (AGPR) and radio echo sounding (RES) provide solutions to these difficulties. Assuming that ice is homogeneous, we introduce a perspective back-projection algorithm designed to process AGPR or RES data that directly searches for unobstructed refracted electromagnetic (EM) wave paths and focuses EM energy below the surface by computing path-specific travel times. The results from the 2D and 3D imaging tests indicate that the perspective back-projection algorithm can accurately image the ice–rock interface. However, Snell’s Law suggests that part of the energy may fail to propagate through the air–ice interface and reach either the ice–rock interface or the receivers in scenarios where the incident angle of an EM wave exceeds a certain threshold. This energy deficit can hinder the perspective back-projection algorithm from accurately imaging such ice–rock interfaces. Despite these limitations, the perspective back-projection algorithm remains a promising tool for imaging sub-ice interfaces in AGPR and RES ice detection. Full article

With the rapid development of transportation infrastructure, bridges increasingly face prominent issues of dynamic response and fatigue damage induced by vehicle–bridge interaction (VBI). To effectively suppress the coupled vibrations and enhance both vehicle ride comfort and bridge service life, this paper proposes an active inerter-spring-damper (ISD) suspension system based on Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm and Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR) control. By establishing a VBI model considering general boundary conditions and employing the modal superposition method to solve the system response, an LQR controller is designed for multi-objective optimization targeting the vehicle body acceleration, suspension dynamic travel, and tire dynamic load. To further improve control performance, the PSO algorithm is utilized to globally optimize the LQR weighting matrices. Numerical simulation results demonstrate that, compared to passive suspension and unoptimized LQR active suspension, the PSO-LQR control strategy significantly reduces vertical body acceleration and tire dynamic load, while also improving the convergence and stability of the suspension dynamic travel. This research provides a new insight into the control method for VBI systems, possessing both theoretical and practical engineering application value. Full article

The European Commission, through the REPowerEU plan and the “Fit for 55” package, aims to reduce fossil fuel dependence and greenhouse gas emissions by promoting electric and fuel cell hybrid electric vehicles (EV-FCHEVs). The transition to this mobility model requires energy systems that are able to provide both electricity and hydrogen while reducing the reliance of residential buildings on the national grid. This study analyses a poly-generative (PG) system composed of a Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) fed by biomethane, a Photovoltaic (PV) system, and a Proton Exchange Membrane Electrolyser (PEME), with electric vehicles used as dynamic storage units. The assessment is based on simulation tools developed for the main components and applied to four representative seasonal days in Rende (Italy), considering different daily travel ranges of a 30-vehicle fleet. Results show that the PG system provides about 27 kW of electricity, 14.6 kW of heat, and 3.11 kg of hydrogen in winter, spring, and autumn, and about 26 kW, 14 kW, and 3.11 kg in summer; it fully covers the building’s electrical demand in summer and hot water demand in all seasons. The integration of EV batteries reduces grid dependence, improves renewable self-consumption, and allows for the continuous and efficient operation of both the SOFC and PEME, demonstrating the potential of the proposed system to support the green transition. Full article

Accessibility is a key dimension for sustainable transport network management and planning. However, conventional location-based accessibility measures typically rely on average travel times as the sole temporal metric, neglecting detailed travel time distributions. Consequently, these methods yield identical accessibility values for study zones with the same mean travel time but different travel time variations. To overcome this limitation, we developed a novel approach that explicitly integrates the probability density distributions of travel times, modelling the impact of travel time variability on accessibility. We applied the proposed method using GPS data collected from taxis in Harbin, China, and compared its outcomes with those from existing potential accessibility calculations. Across all 103 study zones in Harbin, the existing method underestimated the accessibility by 6–28%, with an average underestimation of 17% when benchmarked against the new method. These inaccuracies also impaired the identification of urban areas with the lowest accessibility levels, leading to the misclassification of 20% of problematic zones. The findings highlight the limitations of existing methods, which produce biassed accessibility estimations and misleading results. In contrast, the proposed travel time variability-integrated accessibility measure demonstrates greater sensitivity to actual traffic conditions, providing a more accurate and objective assessment of network performance. Full article

This article examines online hate as a driver of cyberbullying and a barrier to inclusive schooling, integrating theoretical, philosophical and methodological perspectives. We approach hate speech as communicative practices that legitimise discrimination and exclusion and, once amplified by social media affordances, erode equity, belonging and well-being in educational settings. The study adopts a qualitative, exploratory–descriptive design using focus groups with pre-service teachers from initial teacher education programmes across several Chilean regions. Participants reflected on the presence, trajectories and classroom effects of cyberhate/cyberbullying. Data were analysed thematically with ATLAS.ti24. Findings describe a recurrent pathway in which anonymous posts lead to public exposure, followed by heightened anxiety and eventual withdrawal. This shows how online aggression spills into classrooms, normalises everyday disparagement and fuels self-censorship, especially among minoritised students. The analysis also highlights the amplifying role of educator authority (tone, feedback, modelling) and institutional inaction. In response, participants identified protective practices: explicit dialogic norms, rapid and caring classroom interventions, restorative and care-centred feedback, partnership with families and peers, and critical digital citizenship that links platform literacy with ethical reasoning. The article contributes evidence to inform anti-bullying policy, inclusive curriculums and teacher education by proposing actionable, context-sensitive strategies that strengthen equity, dignity and belonging. Full article

Cholesterol blood levels in low-density lipoproteins (LDLs) are a key parameter for assessing the risk of cardiovascular diseases. Direct quantification of LDL cholesterol at the point of care would be possible if all other lipoproteins, particularly the high-density lipoproteins (HDLs), could be removed prior to measurement. Here, we investigated whether a molecularly imprinted membrane (MIM) could be used for the solid-phase affinity extraction (SPAE) of HDL in a paper-based lateral flow test. Samples traveled by capillarity through the MIM before reaching a detection zone where LDL cholesterol was quantified enzymatically. MIMs were produced by impregnation of the membrane with a dispersion of molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) selective for HDL. MIPs were synthesized using precipitation polymerization and exhibited good selectivity for HDL compared with LDL and an uptake capacity of 5.0–7.0 µg of HDL-C/mg of MIP. The MIM enabled the removal of HDL with an efficiency of typically 68%. However, quantification of LDL cholesterol suffered from strong non-specific binding of LDL, likely due to its inherent colloidal instability. Overall, our results highlight the challenges associated with SPAE of colloidal particles. Furthermore, our study demonstrates a novel, efficient, and potentially generic modality to integrate SPAE into paper-based POC diagnostic tests. Full article

This study explores older passengers’ attitudes, behavior, and evaluations of digital air travel, as well as the impact of digital technologies on this demographic, using China as a case study. The findings of this study offer valuable insights for air transport companies to develop sustainable operational strategies, increase passenger satisfaction, and potentially achieve long-term viability. A structured questionnaire survey was conducted targeting this subgroup, applying the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) as the primary analytical frameworks. While the study’s sample is skewed towards digitally literate individuals, this subgroup remains highly relevant for analyzing digital impact trends, as they are the most likely to interact with and be influenced by digital air travel tools. This study suggests that older passengers, particularly young-old passengers, in China have a generally positive attitude towards the use of digital air travel tools, with time saving, convenience, and cost saving identified as the top three perceived benefits. Over 80% of participants indicated that digital technology influenced their decision to continue choosing air travel, highlighting a link between digital engagement and sustainable passenger behavior. However, as this study is limited to digitally literate “young-old” passengers in China, the findings should be interpreted as exploratory and context-specific rather than globally generalizable. Future studies are needed with broader age groups and mixed methods to verify these results. Full article

Mountainous urban areas like Guiyang face unique fire safety challenges due to rugged terrain and complex road networks, which hinder fire station accessibility. This study proposes a GIS-based framework that integrates nighttime light (NPP/VIIRS) and point of interest (POI) data to assess fire risk and accessibility. Kernel density estimation quantified POI distributions across four risk categories, and the Spatial Appraisal and Valuation of Environment and Ecosystems (SAVEE) model combined these with NPP/VIIRS data to generate a composite fire risk map. Accessibility was evaluated using the enhanced two-step floating catchment area (E2SFCA) method with road network travel times; 80.13% of demand units were covered within the five-minute threshold, while 53.25% of all units exhibited low accessibility. Spatial autocorrelation analysis (Moran’s I) revealed clustered high risk in central basins and service gaps on surrounding hills, reflecting the dominant influence of terrain alongside protected forests and farmlands. The results indicate that targeted road upgrades and station relocations can improve fire service coverage. The approach is scalable and supports more equitable emergency response in mountainous settings. Full article

Street design quality and socio-economic factors jointly influence housing prices, but their intertwined effects and spatial variations remain under-quantified. Housing prices not only reflect residents’ neighborhood experiences but also stem from the spillover value of public streets perceived and used by different users. This study takes Tianjin as a case and views the street environment as an immediate experience proxy for through-travelers, combining street view images and crowdsourced perception data to extract both subjective and objective indicators of the street environment, and integrating neighborhood and location characteristics. We use Geographical-XGBoost to evaluate the relative contributions of multiple factors to housing prices and their spatial variations. The results show that incorporating both subjective and objective street information into the Hedonic Pricing Model (HPM) improves its explanatory power, while local modeling with G-XGBoost further reveals significant heterogeneity in the strength and direction of effects across different locations. The results indicate that incorporating both subjective and objective street information into the HPM enhances explanatory power, while local modeling with G-XGBoost reveals significant heterogeneity in the strength and direction of effects across different locations. Street greening, educational resources, and transportation accessibility are consistently associated with higher housing prices, but their strength varies by location. Core urban areas exhibit a “counterproductive effect” in terms of complexity and recognizability, while peripheral areas show a “barely acceptable effect,” which may increase cognitive load and uncertainty for through-travelers. In summary, street environments and socio-economic conditions jointly influence housing prices via a “corridor-side–community-side” dual-pathway: the former (enclosure, safety, recognizability) corresponds to immediate improvements for through-travelers, while the latter (education and public services) corresponds to long-term improvements for residents. Therefore, core urban areas should control design complexity and optimize human-scale safety cues, while peripheral areas should focus on enhancing public services and transportation, and meeting basic quality thresholds with green spaces and open areas. Urban renewal within a 15 min walking radius of residential areas is expected to collaboratively improve daily travel experiences and neighborhood quality for both residents and through-travelers, supporting differentiated housing policy development and enhancing overall quality of life. Full article

Urban traffic congestion is a significant challenge faced by cities globally, resulting in delays, increased emissions, and diminished quality of life. This study introduces an innovative traffic load-balancing algorithm developed as part of the IN2CCAM Horizon 2020 project, which was specifically tested in the city of Vigo, Spain. The proposed method incorporates short-term traffic forecasting through machine learning models—primarily Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks—alongside a dynamic routing algorithm designed to equalize travel times across alternative routes. Historical speed and volume data collected from Bluetooth sensors were analyzed and modeled to predict traffic conditions 15 min ahead. The algorithm was implemented within the PTV Vissim microsimulation environment to assess its effectiveness. Results from 20 distinct traffic scenarios demonstrated significant improvements: an increase in average speed of up to 3%, an 8% reduction in delays, and a 10% decrease in total standstill time during peak weekday hours. Furthermore, average emissions of CO₂, NO_x, HC, and CO were reduced by 4% to 11% across the scenarios. These findings highlight the potential of integrating predictive analytics with real-time load balancing to enhance traffic efficiency and promote environmental sustainability in urban areas. The proposed approach can further support policymakers and traffic operators in designing more sustainable mobility strategies and optimizing future urban traffic management systems. Full article

Objectives: To quantify the effects of geared wheelchair wheels on energy expenditure during manual wheelchair propulsion in individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI). Methods: Eleven adult manual wheelchair users with SCI propelled their personal manual wheelchairs, which were equipped with a pair of geared wheels, on a passive wheelchair ergometer in low-gear and standard-gear conditions for six minutes. The energy cost of transport, distance traveled, rate of oxygen consumption (SCI MET), rate of perceived exertion, heart rate, and stroke cycle frequency were measured and compared across the gear conditions. Results: The distance traveled and SCI MET were significantly lower (p = 0.003) and cost of transport was significantly higher under the low-gear condition compared with the standard-gear condition. Gear condition exerted a moderate effect on the level of exertion; however, the decrease in the rate of perceived exertion under the low-gear condition was not statistically significant. Gear condition did not significantly affect heart rate and stroke cycle frequency. Conclusions: Geared manual wheelchair propulsion was significantly more energy-demanding, but less intense (easier) under the low-gear condition than the standard-gear condition. Using geared wheels may be beneficial for manual wheelchair users to independently accomplish strenuous propulsion tasks during typical activities of daily living, such as propulsion on carpeted floor. However, the small sample size and inclusion of only male participants limit the generalizability of these findings, and future studies with larger and more diverse cohorts are warranted. Full article

This study examines the descriptive trajectories through which service innovation is associated with customer exit dynamics after service failures, drawing on a three-wave panel of 532 online travel agency users and employing partial least squares structural equation modeling with predictive assessment. We analyze how innovation is associated with switching intentions via brand hate and brand distrust over time. Results reveal distinct temporal patterns: service innovation is linked to consistent reductions in both hate and distrust, yet only hate emerges as a salient mediator whose marginal association with switching intensifies over time. In contrast, distrust, although mitigated by innovation, remains relatively stable and behaviorally inert. Rather than asserting a causal explanation, we document temporal associations—labelled here as a “dilution effect”—to indicate that innovation coincides with weakening negative emotions but only partial attenuation of their behavioral correlates. By distinguishing between the fading but influential role of hate and the persistent yet inert nature of distrust, this study clarifies differentiated pathways through which negative states coincide with customer exit. For managers, the results highlight the need for staged innovation strategies to dissipate hate, complemented by long-term trust-repair initiatives to address enduring distrust and reduce customer churn. Full article