Search Results (938)

An analysis of Albanian Muslims in Italy provides a compelling case study of communities perceived as marginal. Studies of Muslims in Italy tend to focus on the majority and chronologically older groups within the country’s Islamic landscape, particularly those from Asia and Africa. In addition to providing a better understanding of Islam in Italy, a study of the identity and community-building issues of the Albanian community of origin offers many insights into that community’s complexity. Albanians in Italy have a very specific historical and religious heritage; so, analyzing their roots and community-building processes helps us to better understand the development of Islam on the margins of large national organizations and majority groups. This article presents the results of the first national study of Albanian Muslims in Italy. Online interviews and field observations were conducted in 2024 within the Union of Muslim Albanians in Italy (Unione degli Albanesi Musulmani in Italia—UAMI), using the ethnographic method. The Association has fewer members compared with national level organizations. It was founded in 2009 to address specific issues related to the management of Muslim Albanian religious identity. The Association has sought to address the fragmentation of religion and Albanian nationalism, a consequence of a long period of state atheism, and to counter the literalist and radical tendencies in the interpretation of religion that have emerged in Albania since the collapse of the communist regime. In addition to these challenges, the Association has also tackled issues related to the Islamic religion in its local and global dimensions. The analysis of these challenges and the ways to deal with them offers a new framework in the Italian Islamic panorama, despite its marginality. The results of this research point to the emergence of new forms of rooting and belonging characterized by spirituality over orthopraxis. These forms adopt a religious approach open to diversity and pluralism. Full article

Falkland Islands English (FIE) began its development in the first half of the 19th century. In part, as a consequence of its youth, FIE is an understudied variety. It shares some morphosyntactic features with other anglophone countries in the Southern Hemisphere, but it also shares lexical features with regional varieties of Spanish, including Rioplatense Spanish. Che is one of many South American words that have entered FIE through Spanish, with its spelling ranging from “chay” and “chey” to “ché”. The word has received some marginal attention in terms of its meaning. It is said to be used in a similar way to the British dear or love and the Australian mate, and it has been compared to chum or pal, and is taken as an equivalent of the River Plate, hey!, hi!, or I say!. In this work, we explore the hypothesis that che entered FIE through historical contact with Rioplatense Spanish, drawing on both linguistic and sociohistorical evidence, and presenting survey, corpus, and ethnographic data that illustrate its current vitality, usage, and social meanings among FIE speakers. In situ observations, fieldwork, and an online survey were used to look into the vitality of che. Concomitantly, by crawling social media and the local press, enough data was gathered to build a small corpus to further study its vitality. A thorough literature review was conducted to hypothesise about the borrowing process involving its entry into FIE. The findings confirm that the word is primarily a vocative, it is commonly used, and it is indicative of a sense of belonging to the Falklands community. Although there is no consensus on the origin of che in the River Plate region, it seems to be the case that it entered FIE during the intense Spanish–English contact that took place during the second half of the 19th century. Full article

The comprehensive analysis of microbial communities reveals the unique microbial identity of different olive varieties, paving the way for new strategies in their development and commercial exploitation. In this context, the present study aimed to explore the microbial diversity and functional characteristics of Tsounati variety olives from the Monemvasia region of Peloponnese, Greece, that were naturally fermented for three months. The bacterial and fungal microbiota of both olives and brines were fingerprinted throughout the fermentation through classical microbiological analysis combined with molecular techniques. Among the 148 isolated bacteria, 85 were lactic acid bacteria (LAB), and 63 belonged to the Enterobacteriaceae family, while the 178 fungal isolates comprised 136 yeasts and 42 non-yeast or yeast-like fungi. Metataxonomic analysis confirmed the dominance of the bacterial genera Lactiplantibacillus, Leuconostoc, along with the Enterobacteriaceae family, and it revealed the presence of Coleofasciculaceae cyanobacteria mostly in olives. The dominant fungal genera were yeasts, namely Saccharomyces, Nakazawaea, and Cyberlindnera. Using the Folin–Ciocalteu assay, the average total polyphenol content of Tsounati fermented olive samples was 761.80 ± 128.87 mg gallic acid equivalents kg⁻¹ after 90 days of fermentation. The concentrations of the triterpenic, maslinic, and oleanolic acids, as determined by HPLC, remained stable throughout fermentation, with average values of 4764 and 1807 mg kg⁻¹, respectively. Finally, sensory analysis revealed the rich aromatic character of Tsounati variety, highlighting its potential to be used for Greek-style table olive production. Full article

This paper presents an analysis of the ultimate strength of wooden joints of the structures of ancient wooden ships. The aim is to contribute to the discussion about how joining technology and types of joints contributed to the transition from ‘shell-first’ to ‘frame-first’ construction, of which the latter is still traditional Mediterranean wooden shipbuilding technology. Historically, ship construction has consisted of two main structural types of elements: planking and stiffening. Therefore, two characteristic carvel planking joints and two longitudinal keel joints were selected for analysis. For planking, the joint details of the ship Uluburun (14th c. BC) and the ship Kyrenia (4th c. BC) were chosen, while two different types of scarf joints belonging to the ship Jules-Verne 9 (6th c. BC) and the ship Toulon 2 (1st c. AD) were selected. The capacity, i.e., the ultimate strength of the joint, is compared to the strength of the structure as if there was no joint. The analysis simulates the independent joint loading of each of the six numerical models in bending, tension, and compression until collapse. The results are presented as load-end-shortening curves, and the calculation was performed as a nonlinear FE analysis on solid elements using the LSDYNA explicit solver. Since wood is an anisotropic material, a large number of parameters are needed to describe the wood’s behaviour as realistically as possible. To determine all the necessary mechanical properties of two types of wood structural material, pine and oak, a physical experiment was used where results were compared with numerical calculations. This way, the material models were calibrated and used on the presented joints’ ultimate strength analysis. Full article

Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) are eco-friendly and sustainable options for agrochemicals, particularly for enhancing crop productivity under stress conditions. The present research aims to isolate and characterize native PGPR from tomato rhizospheric soil and to evaluate their effectiveness as a dose-dependent response to enhance the growth of tomato seedlings. Out of 112 isolates, 10 bacterial strains were selected based on key PGPR traits, including indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), ammonia production, hydrogen cyanide (HCN), exopolysaccharide (EPS) synthesis, hydrolytic enzyme activity, potassium solubilization, antifungal activity against Fusarium oxysporum, and tolerance to pH and heat stress. Molecular identification via 16S rRNA gene sequencing confirmed that these isolates belong to the genera Serratia and Enterobacter. S. marcescens So-1 and Enterobacter sp. So-12 produced the highest levels of IAA (2.6–24.1 µg/mL). In vitro tomato seed germination tests using bacterial suspensions at three concentrations (10⁶, 10⁷, and 10⁸ CFU/mL) showed dose-dependent improvements, with T1 increasing germination up to 108.3% compared to the control. In polyhouse trials using cocopeat formulations, seedling growth improved noticeably. T2 increased the root length (28.3 ± 2.98 cm) by over 1560%, and the shoot length (35.7 ± 0.57 cm) increased by 55% against the control, whose root length is 1.7 ± 0.47. The chlorophyll amount of the treated leaves further showed significant results over the control. Collectively, these findings suggest that using native PGPR in a dose-dependent way can help tomato seedlings grow better and promote more sustainable crop production. Full article

The relationship between Scripture and the Liturgy remains one of the most extensively debated subjects in theological discourse. In the wake of the Protestant Reformation and the Catholic Counter-Reformation, a divided Christendom witnessed the rise of a dichotomy between Scripture and Liturgy, as well as between the Word and the Sacrament. This dichotomy, however, is absent from the patristic thought, which perceives the unity and complementarity between Scripture and Liturgy, owing to their shared belonging to the one life of the Church—broadly defined as Tradition—and to the way they are understood and experienced as interconnected modes through which the singular Mystery of Jesus Christ is communicated to the faithful. The present study aims to demonstrate this unity by drawing on a substantial body of patristic writings, highlighting the fact that the life of the Church is one and is lived both as the rule of faith and the rule of prayer, and that through it, one and the same Christ communicates Himself to the faithful both through the Word and through the Holy Sacraments. For the Church Fathers, the Christian faith is not an abstract doctrine about Christ, but a real and personal encounter and communion with Him in the life of the Church. This patristic approach may offer a starting point for contemporary Christianity in addressing the current liturgical crisis and in rethinking and renewing future ecumenical dialogue. Such renewal presupposes a movement beyond secular formalism and nominalism, which have fostered excessive conceptualization and an antithetical view of Scripture and Liturgy, Word and Sacrament. Full article

This study investigates how the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage influences personal value systems and self-actualization in the context of late modernity, where individualism and instrumental rationality often constrain moral and communal development. Drawing on Schwartz’s value theory and Kaufman’s scale of self-actualization, we conducted an online survey of 500 pilgrims to examine self-reported value changes following the pilgrimage. Factor analyses tested whether these changes aligned with theoretical value structures and how they related to self-actualization. The findings suggest that pilgrimage fosters a shift from self-enhancement toward self-transcendence, with self-direction aligning more closely with universalism and benevolence—indicating a socially oriented form of autonomy. Increases in self-actualization correlate positively with self-transcendence values (universalism and benevolence), self-direction, and conservation values (tradition, conformity, and security) while showing negative associations with power and achievement. The pilgrimage experience appears to realign values toward altruism, moral engagement, and sustainability. By integrating personal growth with ethical and communal orientations, the Camino de Santiago emerges as a meaningful context for multidimensional repair. In this way, the pilgrimage can be understood as a journey of repair—mending value hierarchies fractured by late modern life and restoring a sense of belonging, care, and transcendent purpose. Full article

Background: Dilated Cardiomyopathy (DCM) is one of the leading causes of non-ischemic cardiomyopathy in the United States (US). The aim of our study is to analyze the general trends in DCM admissions between 2016 and 2021, and analyze social and healthcare disparities in terms of treatments and outcomes. Methods: National Inpatient Sample (NIS) data for the years 2016 to 2021 were used for the analysis. General population trends were analyzed. Normality of data distribution was tested using the Kolmogorov–Smirnov test and homogeneity was assessed using Levine’s test. One-way ANOVA was used after confirmation of normality of distribution to analyze social and healthcare disparities. Subgroup analysis was conducted, with the paired t-test for continuous variables and Fischer’s exact t-test for categorical variables to analyze statistical differences. Multivariate regression analysis was conducted to analyze the association of factors that were significant in the one-way ANOVA and paired t/chi square tests. A two-tailed p-value < 0.05 was used to determine statistical significance. Results: A total of 5262 admissions for DCM were observed between 2016 and 2021. A general declining trend was observed in the total number of DCM admissions, with a 33.51% decrease in total admissions in 2021 compared to 2016. All-cause in-hospital mortality remained stable across the years (between 3.5% and 4.5%). A total of 15.3% of admissions had CRT/ICD devices in place. A total of 425 patients (8.07%) for DCM underwent HT, and 214 admissions for DCM (4.06%) underwent LVAD placements between 2016 and 2021 In terms of interventions for DCM, namely Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy (CRT), Left Ventricular Assist Devices (LVADs) and Heart Transplantations (HTs), significant variance was observed in the mean age of the admissions with admissions over the mean age of 55 had lower number of interventions. Significant variance in terms of sex was observed for DCM admissions receiving HT, with lower rates observed for females. In terms of quarterly income, patients belonging to the lowest fourth quartile had higher rates of LVAD and HT compared to general DCM admissions. In the multivariate regression analysis, age at admission had significant association with lower chances of receiving LVADs and HT among DCM admissions, and significant association with higher chances of all-cause mortality during the hospital stay. Conclusions: A general declining trend in the total number of DCM admissions was observed between 2016 and 2021. Significant gender disparities were seen with lower rates of females with DCM receiving LVADs and HT. DCM admissions with mean age of 55 and above were found to have significantly lower rates of receiving LVADs and HT, and higher chances of all-cause mortality during the admission. Full article

The rapid emergence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacterial pathogens poses a critical threat to global health, creating an urgent need for novel antimicrobial agents. In this study, we evaluated a small library of natural and semisynthetic phytocannabinoids against a broad panel of MDR Gram-positive bacterial strains, evidencing very good activity in the low µM range. We provide evidence of the antibacterial activity of the two separated enantiomers of cannabidiol, offering novel insights into the stereochemical aspects of their bioactivity. To investigate the possible molecular targets and clarify the mechanism of action, we employed Inverse Virtual Screening (IVS), a computational approach optimized for predicting potential protein–ligand interactions, on three selected MDR bacterial species. Interestingly, key targets belonging to important bacterial metabolic pathways and defense mechanisms were retrieved, and the results were used to rationalize the observed biological activities. To the best of our knowledge, this study marks the first application of IVS to microorganisms, offering a novel strategy for identifying bacterial protein targets. The results pave the way for future experimental validation, structure-based drug design, and the development of novel antibacterial agents. Full article

In health professions education, the hidden curriculum is a set of implicit rules and expectations about how clinicians act and what they value. In fields that are very homogenous, such as rehabilitation professions, these expectations may have outsized impacts on students from minoritized backgrounds. This qualitative study examined the hidden curriculum in rehabilitation graduate programs—speech-language pathology, occupational therapy, and physical therapy—through the perspectives and experiences of 21 students from minoritized backgrounds. Semi-structured interviews explored their experiences with their programs’ hidden curricula. These revealed expectations about ways of being, interacting, and relating. Three overarching themes emerged, each reflecting tensions between conflicting values: (i) blend in but stand out; (ii) success lies in individualism, while de-prioritizing the individual; and (iii) fix the field, using your identities as a tool. When the expectations aligned with students’ expectations for themselves, meeting them was a source of pride. However, when the social expectations clashed with their own culture, dis/ability, gender, or neurotype, these tensions became an additional cognitive burden, and they rarely received mentorship for navigating it. Health professions programs might benefit from fostering students’ critical reflection on their hidden curricula and their fields’ cultural norms to foster greater belonging, agency, and identity retention. Full article

The SWEET gene family is a group of genes with important functions in plants that is mainly involved in the transport and metabolism of carbohydrate substances. In this study, 32 mango (Mangifera indica L.) SWEET genes were screened and identified at the whole-genome level through bioinformatics methods. A systematic predictive analysis was conducted on their physicochemical properties, homology relationships, phylogenetic relationships, chromosomal locations, genomic structures, promoter cis-acting elements, and transcription factor regulatory networks. Meanwhile, the transcription levels of mango SWEET genes in different varieties and at different fruit development stages were also analyzed to obtain information about their functions. These results showed that 32 mango SWEET genes were unevenly distributed on 12 chromosomes. Phylogenetic analysis divided the SWEET proteins of mango, Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh., and Oryza sativa L. into four clades; in each clade, the mango SWEET proteins were more closely related to those of Arabidopsis. Four types of cis-acting elements were also found in the promoter regions of mango SWEET genes, including light-responsive elements, development-related elements, plant hormone-responsive elements, and stress-responsive elements. Interestingly, we found that the Misweet3 and Misweet10 genes showed strong expression in different mango varieties and at different fruit development stages, and they both belonged to the fourth Clade IV (G4) in the phylogenetic tree, indicating that they play a key role in the sugar accumulation process of mango. In this study, the upstream transcription factors of Misweet3, Misweet8, Misweet9, Misweet10, Misweet17, Misweet18, Misweet19, Misweet21, Misweet23, Misweet25, Misweet27, and Misweet31, those that had high expression levels in the transcriptome data, were predicted, and transcription factors such as ERF, NAC, WRKY, MYB, and C₂H₂ were screened. The results of this study provide a new way to further study the regulation of mango SWEET family genes on sugar accumulation, highlight their potential role in fruit quality improvement, and lay an important foundation for further study of mango SWEET function and enhance mango competitiveness in fruit market. Full article

Sets play a foundational role in organizing, understanding, and interacting with the world in our daily lives. They also play a critical role in the functioning and behavior of social robots and artificial intelligence systems, which are designed to interact with humans and their environments in meaningful and socially intelligent ways. A multitude of non-classical set theories emerged during the last half-century aspiring to supplement Cantor’s set theory, allowing sets to be true to the reality of life by supporting, for example, human imprecision and uncertainty. The aim of this paper is to continue this effort of introducing oSets, which are sets depending on the perception of their observers. Our main objective is to align set theory with human cognition and perceptual diversity. In this context, an accessible set is a class of objects for which perception is passive, i.e., it is independent of perception; otherwise, it is called an oSet, which cannot be known exactly with respect to its observers, but it can only be approximated by a family of sets representing the diversity of its perception. Thus, the new introduced membership function is a three-place predicate denoted ${\in }_i$, where the expression “$x{\in }_{i}X$” indicates that the “observer” i perceives the element x as belonging to the set X. The accessibility notion is related to perception and can be best summarized as follows: “to be accessible is to be perceived”, presenting a weaker stance than Berkeley’s idealism, which asserts that “to be is to be perceived”. Full article

The purpose of this study is to describe Thich Nhat Hanh’s naturalism and nondualism and to situate his views in a “trans-different” perspective. I ask whether his thoughts are compatible with other worldviews that work with the notion of justice. I first describe Nhat Hanh’s attitude towards nature. I then demonstrate how his non-separation from nature paves the way for an interconnectedness with all and how his nonduality leads him to a universal belonging. Finally, juxtaposing Nhat Hanh’s nondualism and a justice-oriented approach, I argue that in a “trans-different” perspective different approaches to suffering and peace may learn from each other and complement each other. Full article

Drawing from narrative interviews with eight Protestant pastors in the U.S. and Canada, this paper explores community-building under the conditions of late modernity through the lenses of individualization and sensemaking. Exploring pastoral approaches to what Ulrich Beck calls “institutionalized individualism”, this paper argues that pastoral sensemaking manages polarities between the societal demand for self-construction and the human need to belong, between an individual’s freedom to make a life (or god) of their own and the fact that such work requires a community. Pastoral leaders manage this polarity through sensemaking strategies that strengthen and clarify the central values and practices of the congregation while also managing the boundaries of the congregation, envisioning the congregation as a retreat center in some cases and as an intentional community in others. In an age of individualization, pastoral leadership requires the dexterity to move between dynamic collective and individual identities, making processes of belonging a collaborative sensemaking effort in which boundaries are drawn, enacted, erased, and redrawn in new ways. Full article

Imbalanced data are a non-trivial problem in deep learning. The high variability in the number of samples composing each category might force learning procedures to become biased towards classes with major cardinality and disregard classes with low instances. To overcome such limitations, common strategies involve data balancing using resampling techniques. The cardinality of overnumbered categories is often lowered by sample deletion, thus reducing the data space where the model can learn from. This paper introduces a new approach based on data balancing without sample deletion, allowing for biasing reduction in instance localization and classification tasks. The method is a multi-stage pipeline starting with data cleaning and data filtering steps and ending with the actual data balancing process, during which overnumbered samples are not deleted but divided into multiple sub-classes. In this way, the model can learn from balanced data distribution in which some classes have a high correlation factor. To evaluate the effectiveness of the method in real-life scenarios, a case study in the field of precision agriculture has been developed, motivated by the fact that the publicly available datasets for pest classification often reflect the real-world imbalanced distribution of pests, making the task challenging. Two models for the localization and recognition of pests belonging to several species are also indicated. The obtained results show the method’s validity as the performance both in the detection and classification tasks outperforms the state-of-the-art methods. The general nature of the conceived balancing technique may make the approach useful in other application fields. Full article