Search Results (71)

This study investigates the foundational causes of unsustainability that obstruct efforts to address global challenges such as climate change, environmental degradation, water crises, and public health deterioration. Using qualitative research with in-depth expert interviews from education, environmental studies, and business, it finds that these global challenges, while visible on the surface, are deeply rooted in worldviews that shape human behavior, societal structures, and policies. Building on this insight, the thematic analysis manifests three interrelated systemic paradigms as the fundamental drivers of unsustainability: a crisis of wholeness, reflected in fragmented identities and collective disorientation; a disconnection from nature, shaped by human-centered perspectives; and the influence of dominant political-economic systems which prioritize growth logics over ecological and social concerns. These paradigms underlie both structural and cognitive barriers to systemic transformation, which influence the design and implementation of education for sustainability. By clarifying a body of knowledge and systemic paradigms regarding unsustainability, this paper calls for transformative education that promotes a holistic, value-based approach, eco-empathy, and critical thinking, aiming to equip future generations with the tools to challenge and transform unsustainable systems. Full article

In this article, I take up Pushor’s conceptualization of ‘walking alongside,’ of accompanying families on their journey to educate their children, as an alternative to the ways in which educators have stood over parents as authorities with more knowledge. I detail the parent and grandparent knowledge approaches to schooling. I make my ways of thinking, doing, and being visible by storying moments of my lived experiences as a nēhiyaw in education, a parent and grandparent, a teacher and assistant professor. I share aspects of my cultural knowledge through nēhiyawēwin-Cree language when it comes to visiting, gratitude, and storytelling with the aim of adding a nēhiyaw voice to the field of research and literature on family engagement. Full article

Relational thinking, as both an ontological and epistemological approach, is inherently intertwined with the discipline of architecture. Yet, despite its growing visibility in the information age, its conceptual depth and theoretical implications remain systematically underexplored within architectural discourse. This study investigates how relational thinking is reflected in 21st-century architecture by analyzing the relevant literature and identifying both commonalities and divergences. Methodologically, the research follows a qualitative framework structured in three phases. First, 40 texts engaging with relationality in architecture were systematically selected via JSTOR and SCOPUS using the PRISMA protocol. Second, a descriptive content analysis was conducted, resulting in five thematic clusters: theoretical, methodological, technological, ecological, and social. Finally, an interpretive synthesis was developed by analyzing the convergence and divergence across these clusters. The findings demonstrate that relational thinking in architecture manifests through complex, multi-scalar integrations of knowledge, practice, and context. Each cluster foregrounds specific aspects of relationality, yet their overlaps reveal underlying patterns of cross-disciplinary resonance. This study suggests that relational thinking is reshaping architectural epistemology—moving it beyond static, form-based paradigms toward dynamic, interconnected systems thinking. These insights underline the necessity of further theoretical engagement with relationality as a core principle of contemporary architectural knowledge. Full article

Artificial intelligence (AI) is now part of the daily routine in many universities. It shows up in learning platforms, digital assessments, and even student services. But despite its growing presence, institutions still face the challenge of making sure it is used in ways that respect legal and ethical boundaries. This research explores how university settings that prioritise knowledge—real, shared, and thoughtfully managed—can help students become more aware of these dimensions. A total of 270 students took part in the study. We used a structural equation model to look at the links between knowledge-based practices, institutional governance, and students’ understanding of AI’s legal and ethical sides. The results show that when knowledge is genuinely valued—not just stored or repeated—governance practices around AI tend to develop more clearly. And this, in turn, makes a difference in how students relate to AI systems. Rather than teaching ethics directly, governance shapes the environment where such thinking becomes part of the everyday. When students see that rules are not arbitrary and that transparency matters, they become more cautious, but also more confident in navigating technology that does not always make its logic visible. Full article

Are wartime dream diaries a testimony to violence and its impact on society and culture? Do dreams shape and respond to history and the collective remembrance of war? This article argues that wartime dream collections constitute a testimonial practice that brings visibility to experiences hidden from the public domain and missing from dominant discourses on war. Connecting post-2022 Ukrainian dream diaries and theoretical contributions to cultural dream analysis by Charlotte Beradt, Georges Didi-Huberman, and Wilfred Bion, I argue that recognizing dream sharing as witnessing raises ethical and political questions because it is not a constative speech act, but a form of thinking about and action on history. Within this ethical–political perspective, sharing dreams is never merely about relaying contents to the reader but a relational act of self-disclosure. I conclude that to read records of war dreams is inseparable from being called upon to receive and offer hospitality to a dream. Full article

Uranium mining for the production of nuclear technologies has left visible scars across the United States and perpetuated legacies of extraction that extend beyond material consumption to the exploitation of people and the environment. Influenced by important ongoing conversations in the environmental and energy humanities, posthumanism, and decolonial studies, I analyze how uranium extraction has been conceived of as an “event” within a colonial temporal framework. A critical examination of how religious worldviews have informed the ways that time is conceptualized and understood shifts thinking about extraction away from colonial temporalities and helps reimagine extraction through a decolonial perspective as temporally distributed, enmeshed, and complex. This reframing is imperative to foster an understanding that the radioactive byproducts of uranium created through the nuclear production process are globally dispersed, will persist across generations, and will have transgenerational implications for human and non-human organisms and the health and viability of ecologic systems. Full article

This study seeks to understand the key success factors that underpin efficiency, transparency, and user trust in automated decision support systems (DSS) that leverage AI technologies across industries. The aim of this study is to facilitate more accurate decision-making with such AI-based DSS, as well as build trust through the need for visibility and explainability by increasing user acceptance. This study primarily examines the nature of AI-based DSS adoption and the challenges of maintaining system transparency and improving accuracy. The results provide practical guidance for professionals and decision-makers to develop AI-driven decision support systems that are not only effective but also trusted by users. The results are also important to gain insight into how artificial intelligence fits into and combines with decision-making, which can be derived from research when thinking about embedding systems in ethical standards. Full article

We engage the decolonial option from Abya Yala, el Caribe, and Eastern Europe with an interest in suicide from our struggles as racialized people and our dehumanization, whereby, for many of us, suicide is not an act of autonomy or resistance but the reaffirmation of death as an ongoing state of living. This is the permanent reality of existence concocted by coloniality and its constitutive effect on lived experience. We depart from the assumption that suicide materializes according to someone’s thinking about the world and of a particular philosophy. Thus, predominantly, suicide is the universal name someone’s knowledge has given to an experience; and whose experience is named as such is consequently universally configured as a suicidal being. Here, we discuss suicide from understandings that come from non-discursive domains, and from a different genealogy than western Europe’s; the coloniality of the senses, time and being. We attempt to story what violence does in relation to an already violent circumstance, suicide, therapists and hotline workers, and undocumented lives in the U.S., when singularly imposing one way of the world. We are interested in adding visibility to the legacy of erasure and violence that the epistemologies and ontologies of suicide, suicide assessments, and therapists’ clinical judgements perpetuate; further sustaining dehumanization and the imposition of death as a constant in life. We discuss a crisis suicide call as the lay of the land of modernity’s suicide assessments, constructed as an assemblage from our shared memories on many stories we have heard in our work. We annotate it as it unfolds, reflecting upon our expected practices in institutionalized settings, under the control of modernity/coloniality that discriminates against pluriversal temporalities, sensings, and relationalities. Full article

This essay reflects on the concept of the death of God as part and parcel of modern philosophical theology: a genre of thinking that came into existence with Hegel’s announcement of the “speculative Good Friday” as the most natural expression of die Religion der neuen Zeiten, “the religion of modern times”. In my interpretation, the death of God not only does not spell the end of the era of atheism but, on the contrary, inaugurates a new era of characteristically modern theism that steers away from theological absolutism. The new theos is no longer conceived as the eternal omnipotent Absolute but as the Derridean diminished Infinite: contracted and self-negated—even “unto death”. Such God, however, although coming to the foremost visibly in modernity, is not completely new to the monotheistic religions, which from the beginning are engaged in the heated debate concerning the status of the divine power: is it absolute and unlimited or rather self-restricted and conditioned? I will enter this debate by conducting a comparison between the two traditional models of divine self-restriction—Christian kenosis and Jewish-kabbalistic tsimtsum—and then present their modernised philosophical variants, most of all in the thought of Hegel. Full article

To this day, the nature of dark matter (DM) remains elusive despite all our efforts. This type of matter has not been directly observed, so we infer its gravitational effect. Since galaxies and supermassive objects like these are most likely to contain DM, we assume that dense objects such as neutron stars (NSs) are also likely to host DM. The NS is considered the best natural laboratory for testing theories and collecting observational data. We mainly focus on two types of DM particles, fermions and bosons, with a mass range of [0.01–1.5] GeV and repulsive interactions of about [${10}^{-4}$–${10}^{-1}$] ${\mathrm{MeV}}^{-1}$. Using a two-fluid model to solve the TOV equations, we find stable configurations that span hundreds of kilometers and weigh tens or even hundreds of solar masses. To visualize results, we think of a giant invisible compact DM object and the NS in the center as the core, the only visible part. Stability criteria are met for these configurations, so collapsing into a black hole is unlikely. We go further and use this work for smaller formations that exist inside the mysterious Mass Gap. We also find stable configurations of 3–4 solar masses, with NS-DM mixing capable of describing the mass gap. Regardless, the present theoretical prediction, if combined with corresponding observations, could shed light on the existence of DM and even more on its fundamental properties. Full article

Different actors have observed divergences and imbalances related to quality understanding and value appropriation in the coffee value chain. Reducing this gap and ensuring sustainability requires innovative strategies. The “Coffee Grower’s Laboratory” in Ituango, Colombia, was established to enhance local coffee farmers’ capacities in science, technology, and innovation. Over 13 participatory methodologies were developed with design thinking to facilitate knowledge exchange between the farmers’ traditional expressions and international commercial practices. Key methodologies included brand co-creation (Artesanato), roast curves (Anatomy of Roasting), roaster operation (The Roaster’s Journey), understanding beans (Know the Bean), and coffee tasting (Deliciousometer). Additionally, methodologies for strengthening intra and interpersonal skills, such as self-care (Crossing the River) and empowerment (The Four Pillars of Trust), were included. Altogether 302 coffee farmers participated. We co-created a community brand, Itucafé, promoted on social media to highlight the farmers’ traditions and innovations nationally and internationally. Farmers, who previously sold only washed parchment coffee, now process, taste, and sell their coffee directly to buyers. Selling directly to buyers increased coffee growers’ profits to around 50% through the “Coffee Grower’s Laboratory”, compared to the less than 10% they earned previously. They also experiment with new fermentations using local fruits, creating unique sensory profiles for more competitive pricing. The “Coffee Grower’s Laboratory” has strengthened the coffee community’s capabilities and competitiveness, enhancing the visibility and recognition of Ituango coffee. It provides an ideal environment for continuous training and producer-buyer relationships, serving as a replicable model for other coffee-producing regions in Colombia. Full article

Currently, space-based information networks, represented by satellite Internet, are rapidly developing. UAVs can serve as airborne mobile terminals, representing a novel node in satellite IoT, offering more accurate and robust data streaming for connecting global satellite–UAV collaborative IoT systems. It is characterized by high-speed dynamics, with node distances and visibility constantly changing over time. Therefore, there is a need for faster and higher-quality topology optimization research. A reliable, secure, and adaptable network topology optimization algorithm has been proposed to handle various complex scenarios. Additionally, considering the dynamic and time-varying nature of these types of networks, the concept of time slices has been introduced to accelerate the iterative efficiency of problem-solving. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm is expected to exhibit better convergence and performance in subsequent iterations compared with traditional solutions. Besides being a solution for topology optimization, the proposed algorithm offers a new way of thinking, enabling the handling of larger satellite–UAV collaborative IoT systems. Full article

Family caregivers provide care to people with disabilities, as well as ill and older adults, often with little to no outside assistance from the formal long-term care system. They are the backbone of long-term care, and it is a misconception that the majority of people institutionalize disabled people and older adults in the United States. Youth caregiving is under-examined in the field of public health and is in need of theoretical and practical attention. Building upon the work of Talley and Crews and Bronfenbrenner, we aim to broaden the scope of the discussion around caregiving through the application of the social–ecological model (SEM) to inform research and practice. This paper picks up where they left off, digging deeper into the ecological model to reimagine research, policy, and practices related to youth and young adult caregivers that are rooted in this framework. This application highlights care as embedded in social relations while allowing for an exploration of the ways structural barriers impact the caring unit. Looking holistically at the unit, rather than individuals as service users, provides an opportunity for understanding the interconnectedness of those giving and receiving care. It does so by rendering visible the interdependence of the caring unit, and the myriad structures, which bear down on care at the individual and household levels. This approach runs counter to dominant thinking, which focuses exclusively on the individuals involved in caregiving relationships, rather than considering them as interdependent units of care. This paper provides an analytic contribution, utilizing a narrative composite vignette based on literature and previous research. Full article

A Z-type heterojunction MnO₂@g-C₃N₄ photocatalyst with excellent performance was synthesized by an easy high-temperature thermal polymerization approach and combined with peroxymonosulfate (PMS) oxidation technology for highly efficient degrading of tetracycline hydrochloride (TC). Analysis of the morphological structural and photoelectric properties of the catalysts was achieved through different characterization approaches, showing that the addition of MnO₂ heightened visible light absorption by g-C₃N₄. The Mn₁-CN₁/PMS system showed the best degradation of TC wastewater, with a TC degradation efficiency of 96.97% following 180 min of treatment. This was an approximate 38.65% increase over the g-C₃N₄/PMS system. Additionally, the Mn₁-CN₁ catalyst exhibited excellent stability and reusability. The active species trapping experiment indicated •OH and SO₄^•− remained the primary active species to degrade TC in the combined system. TC degradation pathways and intermediate products were determined. The Three-Dimensional Excitation-Emission Matrix (3DEEM) was employed for analyzing changes in the molecular structure in TC photocatalytic degradation. The biological toxicity of TC and its degradation intermediates were investigated via the Toxicity Estimation Software Test (T.E.S.T.). The research offers fresh thinking for water environment pollution treatment. Full article

Traditional textile dyeing uses chemical pigments and dyes, which consumes a large amount of water and causes serious environmental pollution. Structural color is an essential means of achieving green dyeing of textiles, and thin-film interference is one of the principles of structural coloring. In the assembly of structural color films, it is necessary to introduce dark materials to suppress light scattering and improve the brightness of the fabric. In this study, the conditions for the generation of nanofilms of catechin (CC) at the gas–liquid interface were successfully investigated. At the same time, environmentally friendly colored silk fabrics were novelly prepared using polycatechin (PCC) structural color films. In addition, it was found that various structural colors were obtained on the surface of silk fabrics by adjusting the time. Meanwhile, the color fastness of the structural colored fabrics was improved by introducing polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) to form a strong hydrogen bond between the fabric and catechin. PCC film is uniform and smooth, with a special double-layer structure, and can be attached to the surface of silk fabrics, giving the fabrics special structural colors. Through the thin-film interference formed between the visible light and the PCC film, the silk fabrics obtain bright, controllable, and uniform structural colors. This method is easy to operate and provides a new way of thinking for environmental-protection-oriented coloring of fabrics. Full article