Search Results (1,606)

Animal abuse, encompassing active cruelty and neglect, is an underreported animal welfare and public safety concern. In Hungary, the parallel administrative and criminal law definitions of animal cruelty create additional uncertainty for citizens, professionals, and authorities, particularly regarding which institution should receive and evaluate a report. Existing reporting pathways are unstructured, and rarely produce documentation that is directly usable in subsequent administrative or criminal proceedings. This study presents the concept design of a structured online citizen-reporting interface developed for the Hungarian regulatory context. The interface functions as a structured intake tool: it guides non-expert reporters through standardised, category-based data entry; supports the submission of contextual evidence, including photographs, videos and location data; and prepares structured case files for transmission to the competent authority. The concept was shaped by a preliminary stakeholder needs assessment, in which people knowledgeable in animal welfare issues and members of the general public participated. The system does not perform legal or veterinary welfare assessment; instead, it standardises the information available to the responsible administrative, investigative or expert veterinary actor. Anticipated benefits include improved completeness of initial reports, clearer routing between administrative and criminal pathways, support for reporting, and a documentation format compatible with downstream expert evaluation. Full article

Environmental Education (E.E.) and Education for Sustainable Development (E.S.D.) play a crucial role in fostering environmentally responsible citizens and supporting the achievement of sustainability goals. This study aims to investigate secondary school teachers’ knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions regarding E.E./E.S.D., as well as the factors influencing their implementation in the educational process. A quantitative research design was employed using a structured questionnaire distributed to a sample of 500 teachers across Greece. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, content analysis, exploratory factor analysis, reliability testing, correlation analysis, and multiple regression analysis with the use of SPSS software. The results indicate that teachers generally demonstrate positive attitudes toward E.E./E.S.D. and recognize its importance in promoting environmental awareness, behavioral change, and students’ social development. Content analysis revealed that key environmental concerns identified by participants include pollution, climate change, and waste management, while E.E./E.S.D. is mainly associated with environmental practices and awareness. Factor analysis identified five core dimensions shaping teachers’ attitudes: (i) perceived value and impact, (ii) social and personal development outcomes, (iii) pedagogical design and evaluation understanding, (iv) institutional and structural barriers, and (v) practical implementation challenges. Significant correlations were found among these factors, particularly between perceived value and pedagogical understanding, as well as between institutional barriers and implementation challenges. Regression analysis showed that demographic and experiential variables have a modest but significant effect on perceived challenges, with age and participation in E.E./E.S.D. programs negatively associated with difficulties, while years of involvement increased awareness of implementation constraints. Overall, the findings highlight that although teachers possess a satisfactory level of awareness and positive attitudes toward E.E./E.S.D., limited training, insufficient institutional support, and structural barriers hinder effective implementation. The study underscores the need for enhanced training opportunities, stronger policy support, and systematic integration of E.E./E.S.D. into school curricula to promote sustainable education practices. Full article

National Forest Trails (NFTs), a key component of forest welfare infrastructure, increasingly require a shift from government-led management to citizen-participatory governance. This study examined the structural relationships among volunteer motivation, activity satisfaction, perceived quality-of-life (QoL) change, and behavioral intention in the context of NFT volunteering. A survey was conducted with 217 adults who had participated in forest trail volunteering programs in Korea, and the data were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). The results showed that volunteer motivation had significant positive effects on reward importance, activity satisfaction, and perceived QoL change. Activity satisfaction positively influenced both Future Participation Intention and Active Participation Intention, whereas perceived QoL change had a significant positive effect only on Active Participation Intention. In addition, activity satisfaction and perceived QoL change mediated the relationship between volunteer motivation and Active Participation Intention. These findings suggest that forest trail volunteers are not merely supplementary labor for trail management, but active participants in forest governance who both contribute to and benefit from the environments they help sustain. Overall, the study indicates that sustainable NFT volunteering depends not only on motivation itself, but also on the quality and personal meaning of the volunteer experience. The findings highlight the importance of experience-centered program design, appropriate recognition systems, and greater attention to participant-centered well-being outcomes in sustainable forest trail governance. Full article

Background: Translating urban environmental health evidence into actionable policies remains challenging in South-Eastern Europe, where environmental epidemiology has yet to reach maturity and institutional capacity and cross-sector coordination are suboptimal. This study assessed stakeholders’ awareness, perceived roles, and prioritization of urban health challenges, alongside the barriers and evidence needs related to healthy and sustainable urban development. Methods: A cross-sectional online survey was conducted between March and May 2025 among 108 stakeholders identified through a collaborative evaluation process. Participants represented national institutions, municipal actors, academia, non-governmental organizations, business, and citizens. They reported on their role and influence, and were asked to identify priority urban health problems, relevant policies and actions, perceived barriers to decision-making, and expected benefits of addressing priority problems. Results: Most respondents reported limited or moderate influence on urban decision-making. Priority problems clustered around air pollution, traffic, and land-use pressures, with climate change and heat also frequently cited. Dominant barriers included lack of coordination and policy continuity, insufficient political support, and limited funding and institutional capacity. Anticipated gains centered on improved public health, cleaner air, and citizen satisfaction, with broader quality-of-life and economic co-benefits also identified. Conclusions: Prioritized urban environmental problems are largely consistent with scientific evidence on their health impacts, though certain risk factors remain underestimated. Access to specific, actionable scientific evidence and the co-production of solutions with broad stakeholder representation are essential prerequisites for effective urban health policy and practice. Full article

Digital participation depends not only on the formal availability of online engagement channels but also on how citizens interpret the safety, usefulness, and feasibility of participation. This article examines whether willingness to engage digitally is shaped more strongly by procedural platform cues or by underlying behavioral beliefs about security, efficacy, and personal capability. Using a survey of 500 adults in South Korea and a 2 × 2 survey-embedded vignette experiment, the study varies participation threshold (50 vs. 500 supporters) and response specificity (generic response vs. concrete action plan and timeline). The direct experimental effects are small and statistically non-significant, indicating no detectable moderate shift in stated willingness within this vignette design. In contrast, baseline participation intention, perceived outcome efficacy, and digital ability are consistently associated with scenario-based willingness to participate, while security trust is positively associated with baseline readiness to engage. The findings suggest that digital participation is better understood as a behavioral decision shaped by perceived risk, expected consequences, and self-assessed capability than as a simple response to procedural design alone. Full article

Citizen science (CS), meaning the participation of the public in scientific research, is very popular for studying many aspects of biodiversity. Plant diversity on the other hand has not been extensively studied with CS in spite of the critical role of plants in ecosystems. To acquire a clearer picture of this field of research we carried out a comparative bibliometric analysis of articles from 2005 to 2026 on four geographical levels: globally, Europe, Mediterranean and Greece. We used the Biblioshiny web app with data extracted from the Web of Science Core Collection database. Differences in both the quantity and the quality of research were shown, as well as a great degree of lack of plant awareness (LPA). Very little research in this field has been conducted for Greece in spite of its rich plant diversity. Our findings also confirm the existence of bias in the socio-economic background of participants in CS. It is worth noting that plant diversity and CS play a key role in achieving the United Nations SDGs. Consequently, plant-focused CS on a global and regional scale should be further evolved to reverse topic development dissimilarities, combat LPA and support sustainable development. Given the context of Greece, amplifying scientific efforts could further develop botanical knowledge and its applications in a biodiversity hotspot. Full article

Public awareness and perception of human biomonitoring (HBM) and pesticide exposure are essential for informed decision-making and policy, yet understanding remains limited and often shaped by media and advocacy. This study combined three focus group discussions with Latvian citizens and an online content analysis of pesticide-related posts. Discussions explored understanding of HBM, attitudes toward chemical exposures, and support for related research, while content analysis identified commonly discussed pesticides and the role of non-governmental organisations (NGO) in shaping public opinion. Findings indicate low awareness and frequent misconceptions about HBM, often confused with wearable health technologies rather than a tool for assessing internal chemical exposure. Concerns were mainly linked to food additives and household chemicals, with less attention to pesticides. Glyphosate emerged as the most debated pesticide, largely driven by NGO activity and media coverage. Trust in government initiatives was mixed, with concerns about political influence, industry interests, and data privacy. Nevertheless, participants expressed strong support for further national research. Overall, the results highlight gaps in public understanding and the significant influence of media and advocacy. Strengthening risk communication, transparency, and public engagement is essential to build trust and support the development of Latvia’s HBM framework. Full article

This study analyzes the impact of socio-demographic factors on citizens’ perceptions of the functioning of local-level inclusion mechanisms, focusing on four dimensions: information, participation, transparency, and effectiveness. A mixed-methods approach is employed, combining: (1) a large-scale survey with 885 residents in three municipalities (Patos, Elbasan, and Mat) and (2) in-depth interviews with mayors, municipal councilors, and social service managers. The quantitative analysis was conducted through binary logistic regression models in SPSS version 27, as well as ordered logistic regression, examining the impact of socio-demographic factors such as age, education level, gender, employment status, and area of residence on the four dimensions of the study and the Inclusion Index. The qualitative component analyzes how local officials address citizen inclusion in key social policy areas such as employment, education, housing, social assistance, and social services. The results show that residence is the strongest predictor, with citizens in urban areas reporting higher levels of information, transparency, and effectiveness of participatory processes. Employment status is also associated with more positive perceptions, while gender and educational level show limited and inconsistent effects. Qualitative findings suggest that these differences are mediated by structural and institutional factors, such as infrastructure, administrative capacity and access to information. The study contributes to the literature on democratic innovation and participatory governance by showing that the impact of demographic factors on civic engagement is mediated by institutional and territorial conditions, particularly in developing countries. Full article

Urban planning increasingly depends on methods capable of capturing citizen perspectives in forms that are both inclusive and analytically useful for decision-making. Conventional participation mechanisms, such as public meetings, paper questionnaires, and online platforms, often suffer from low reach, strong self-selection effects, and weak suitability for structured comparative analysis. This paper presents XRCity, a decision support system that combines extended reality, conversational artificial intelligence, and a planner-side backend to support participatory urban planning in public spaces. The system is centered on Olivia, a life-sized virtual assistant deployed on outdoor interactive screens, and on a backend environment that enables planners to prepare knowledge resources, configure interaction scripts, validate conversational behavior, process transcripts, and analyze elicited opinions. The contribution of the paper is not just the presentation of an XR interface, but the description and validation of a complete decision-support pipeline that connects campaign design, citizen interaction, opinion structuring, and planner-side analytics. The system was validated through real-world deployment in Torres Vedras, Portugal. Across more than 250 interactions and over 740 min of conversation, 191 usable sessions were analyzed, showing an average of 6.7 messages per user and 2.8 min per interaction. Of these sessions, 14.7% produced at least one structured response to an urban planning question, exceeding the project target of 10%. These results indicate the operational feasibility of using public-space conversational XR to elicit analyzable planning input, while a formal validation of the opinion-matching step remains future work. Full article

Building healthy communities requires organizational arrangements that center on resident and community assets while using data to guide decisions. This study examines how the Evidence2Success framework was implemented in three communities, Kearns, UT, Mobile, AL, and Memphis, TN, to understand how citizen-led asset mapping, coalition processes, and funding strategies shape youth well-being efforts. Using an interpretive case-study design, we analyzed process-evaluation interviews, implementation milestones and benchmarks, strengths-and-concerns reports, and community case materials to trace how coalitions mobilized assets, reoriented institutional resources, and adapted evidence-based programs. The results show that broad, cross-sector Community Boards completed most implementation tasks, increased participation by people of color, and developed more inclusive decision-making structures that addressed historical inequities. Coalitions also strengthened data-use capacities, employing youth survey results and local qualitative input to select priorities, braid funding, and make culturally responsive adaptations while maintaining program fidelity. Overall, the findings suggest that when evidence-based planning frameworks are embedded within asset-based, resident-governed structures, communities can build sustainable organizational arrangements that support youth well-being and advance more equitable local systems. Full article

Background: Cancer is a chronic disease with significant health impacts and is a leading cause of mortality worldwide. Cancer patients often require frequent hospital visits to manage their condition effectively. Therefore, understanding the factors that influence their ability to access healthcare services—such as age, gender, citizenship, region of residence, educational level, and income—is crucial, as these factors can impact continuity of care and overall quality of life. Purpose: This study aims to identify the factors determining cancer patients’ healthcare access and to propose alternative solutions that will enhance their ability to access services. Methods: This cross-sectional quantitative study utilized the health belief model for data analysis. Data were collected randomly through an online questionnaire targeting cancer patients across Saudi Arabia. Results: The findings indicated that payment method, distance to healthcare facilities, tumor type, and willingness to use virtual appointments were significantly associated with access to healthcare services. A total of 391 participants were included, the majority of whom were female (n = 291), aged 39 to 48 (n = 111), Saudi citizens (n = 376), residing in the Eastern region (n = 210), holding a bachelor’s degree (n = 193), and reporting no monthly income (n = 110). Conclusions: Access to healthcare services for cancer patients in Saudi Arabia is challenged by several factors, including payment methods, travel distance, cancer type, and the acceptance of health applications. Promoting digital health tools and virtual appointments can significantly improve access to care and facilitate ongoing management for cancer patients. Full article

Thomas Jefferson, the Author of the Declaration of Independence and the Father of the University of Virginia, considered it a self-evident truth that our rights must be secured through government and that the people themselves are the only safe guardians of their liberty in a republican form of government. The civic education of the people is, therefore, imperative, in his view, if they are to be informed citizens. This article examines the ways that the first States sought to institute public universities, through both constitutional and legislative means, and highlights Jefferson’s vision for civic education against the activity of the States in establishing education. Surveying early State constitutions and university charters reveals, for those States instituting public education, a wide range of approaches, particularly with respect to three aspects: authorizing mode (constitutional or legislative mandates); civic rhetoric; and scope (tiered system or single institution). While several of the States recognize education as important to republican government, their commitments to public civic education vary. Against this backdrop, Jefferson’s views on education appear both comprehensive and constant, from his reform Bill for the More General Diffusion of Knowledge and Notes on the State of Virginia, which envision a three-tiered public system, to his efforts in retirement to pass education reform and establish a new university, with his purpose being explicitly civic. While his State never adopted his full system, Jefferson continued to advocate for ward republics and public instruction throughout his life. The founding of the University of Virginia in 1819 partially fulfilled this pursuit, embodying the keystone in his educational architecture. Yet Jefferson’s broader system—grounded in local participation and universal civic instruction—remained unrealized. This survey further reveals that statesmen in early America did not always agree with Jefferson that States must have an enduring institutional commitment to public civic education, as the best means to inform the people and to secure republican self-government. Full article

School-based citizen science is increasingly used to support biodiversity monitoring, but the reliability of student-generated ecological data remains uncertain. I evaluated a nationwide barn owl (Tyto alba) pellet project in Israel involving 1612 students and 107 teachers over two academic years. Teacher participation was moderate to high: 66.4% of teachers returned at least one complete kit, generating 3333 prey records, mostly from small mammals, thereby demonstrating that schools can contribute significant ecological sampling effort across broad geographic areas. Student identification accuracy was moderate: 50% of pellet analyses were perfectly identified, with an overall item-level accuracy of 62%, and 76% of pellet attempts included at least one correctly identified prey item. The probability of perfect identification declined sharply with pellet complexity. Identification accuracy also varied among prey taxa: even under minimal complexity (single-species pellets), certain taxa exhibited significantly higher misidentification rates than others. Each additional prey item reduced the odds of correctly identifying all prey items in a pellet by about 68%, indicating that identification reliability decreases as sample complexity increases. Although many students initially found pellets disgusting, engagement remained high, and willingness to repeat the activity was strongly linked to enjoyment. These findings show that school-based citizen science can support biodiversity monitoring, but reliable ecological inference requires validation frameworks, especially when sample complexity is high. Full article

Urban sustainability actions implemented by local governments play a crucial role in addressing contemporary environmental challenges and advancing sustainable urban development. Beyond their environmental impacts, these local initiatives may also be associated with citizens’ participation, behaviors, and sense of responsibility toward the environment. However, limited empirical research has systematically examined how municipal sustainability initiatives contribute not only to environmental and sustainability outcomes but also to the development of environmental citizenship. This study evaluates urban sustainability actions implemented by local governments during the timespan of eight years (2017–2025) within the framework of the National Green City Awards in Cyprus. Using a structured coding scheme and a dataset of municipal sustainability initiatives, the study analyses the relationships between action characteristics, governance and participation mechanisms, environmental and sustainability outcomes, and environmental citizenship outcomes. The empirical analysis employs descriptive statistics and association levels to examine the relationship between the studied dimensions and sustainability outcomes and environmental citizenship development. The findings highlight that the environmental domain, SDG alignment, and nature-based solutions are significantly associated with the effectiveness of municipal sustainability initiatives. The study contributes to the literature on sustainable urban development and environmental governance by providing an empirical framework for evaluating municipal sustainability actions and by demonstrating their role in fostering environmental citizenship and sustainability-oriented civic engagement. Full article

The intensification of urbanization and the environmental crisis highlight the need for new paradigms of sustainable urban development, in which mobility plays a central role. This article analyzes sustainable urban mobility initiatives in Latin American knowledge territories through a comparative framework that integrates Knowledge-Based Urban Development (KBUD) and urban circularity principles. Grounded in the Fourth-Generation Knowledge Territories (TC4) perspective, the study focuses on governance models and social participation as drivers of transformative mobility practices. Methodologically, it adopts a qualitative and exploratory case study approach, combining primary data from field visits with secondary sources such as legislation, institutional documents, and technical reports. Despite the proliferation of science parks and innovation districts in Latin America, little is known about how governance and social participation shape sustainable mobility initiatives in these contexts, particularly when analyzed through the combined lenses of KBUD and urban circularity. The comparative analysis reveals varying degrees of openness and limitations in urban mobility governance across the three territories selected (distritotec—Mexico, Parque Patricios—Argentina, and Porto Digital—Brazil). The findings reveal distinct governance configurations and degrees of alignment with circular mobility principles. Distritotec stands out for its multistakeholder governance and community-led mobility initiatives, reflecting efforts to operationalize the quintuple helix model. Parque Patricios shows fragmented integration between infrastructure improvements and participatory planning, while Porto Digital presents limited articulation between innovation policies and sustainable mobility, with centralized governance and low public engagement. Persistent challenges observed throughout the cases include the weak institutionalization of citizen participation, insufficient strategies to disincentivize private car use, and a lack of data governance mechanisms. Full article